{"id":60130,"date":"2017-10-04T14:00:12","date_gmt":"2017-10-04T21:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=60130"},"modified":"2017-10-04T17:56:41","modified_gmt":"2017-10-05T00:56:41","slug":"draftkings-fanduel-win-copyright-case-brought-college-football-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/draftkings-fanduel-win-copyright-case-brought-college-football-players\/","title":{"rendered":"DraftKings and FanDuel Win Copyright Case Brought by College Football Players"},"content":{"rendered":"

DFS giants DraftKings and FanDuel<\/a> have won a class action lawsuit, brought by a group of college football players, that posed a potential existential threat to their business model.<\/p>\n

\"Akeem
Former northern Illinois University football players Akeem Daniels led a class action lawsuit against DraftKings and FanDuel over names and image rights that could have caused huge damage to the DFS industry. The sites won by a \u201cclose call.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Former northern Illinois University football players Akeem Daniels, Cameron Stingily and Nicholas Stoner claimed in their filing that the sites had used their names and images unlawfully. They brought the case on behalf of all football players in America.<\/p>\n

At the time of the lawsuit appeared, in 2016, both sites offered contests on college football and basketball, although they subsequently ceased to do so as part of an agreement with the NCAA<\/a> later that year.<\/p>\n

On Friday the suit was dismissed by the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, which ruled that the use of football players\u2019 names and images was legal under Indiana law due to allowable exemptions based on the newsworthiness and public interest of the plaintiffs.<\/p>\n

Defining \u2018Newsworthy\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to the law, a “person may not use an aspect of a personality\u2019s right of publicity for a commercial purpose during the personality\u2019s lifetime or for one hundred (100) years after the date of the personality\u2019s death without having obtained previous written consent\u2026\u201d The term \u201cright of publicity\u201d includes an individual\u2019s name and likeness.<\/p>\n

But FanDuel and DraftKings argued their usage was exempt from the general prohibitions of the Indiana statute, that it was protected under the First Amendment to the US Constitution, and that copyright laws protected them from liability.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was the first time the court had had to define \u201cnewsworthiness\u201d in relation to a copyright case and it chose to define it broadly. It accepted that the notion of newsworthy extended beyond the dissemination of current affairs and into the realms of data and entertainment.<\/p>\n

Thus, the achievements of athletes are considered to be \u201cnewsworthy\u201d because they are closely followed by a large segment of the public.<\/p>\n

Close Call<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The court concluded that DraftKings and FanDuel could be seen as \u201creference sources\u201d for those consuming sports in general.<\/p>\n

“The Court acknowledges that this is a close call,\u201d wrote the judge. \u201cBut given Indiana\u2019s interpretive preference to read statutes in a manner that avoids constitutional issues, as well as other Circuits\u2019 reasoning on similar issues, the Court concludes that Defendants\u2019 materials constitute \u2018reporting.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither DraftKings nor FanDuel offered have comment on the courts\u2019 decision but they\u2019re likely breathing a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DFS giants DraftKings and FanDuel have won a class action lawsuit, brought by a group of college football players, that posed a potential existential threat to their business model. Former northern Illinois University football players Akeem Daniels, Cameron Stingily and Nicholas Stoner claimed in their filing that the sites had used their names and images […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":60131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDraftKings and FanDuel Win Copyright Case Brought by College Football Players<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Daily fantasy sports narrowly escape a damaging lawsuit, as a court rules their use of player names and images can be considered to be \u2018reporting\u2019 and does not infringe copyright law.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DraftKings and FanDuel Win 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