Last month, Yahoo! filed suit against the NFL Players Association regarding the question of whether the union had the right to continue to charge for the use of player names and statistics in fantasy football games, in light of court decisions standing for the proposition that such facts are within the public domain.
Now, the case has been settled.
No details have been provided. But it’s possible that Yahoo! has relented on its fairly aggressive claim that a wide range of information can be used without compensation: “likenesses (including, without limitation, numbers), pictures,
photographs, voices, facsimile signatures and/or biographical
information (including but not limited to player statistics).”
Perhaps the union has agreed to allow Yahoo! to use certain information without compensation (such as names and statistics), and that Yahoo! will pay the NFLPA a negotiated sum for photos and other data.
Regardless, the case was over barely a month after it began.
It’s surprising, and it’s somewhat unfortunate.
After all, the lawyers have to eat, too.