According to Associated Press accounts, the National Basketball Association is suing Motorola and other companies for operating a service of supplying play-by-play action of NBA games to Motorola customers with alphanumeric beepers.
The suit was filed in S.D.N.Y, against Motorola and a company named Sports Team Analysis and Tracking Systems Inc. (STATS, Inc.), a company that apparently prepares the information for transmission in conjunction with Motorola. The AP article reports that the NBA pleads causes of action for "misappropriation, false advertising, unfair competition, copyright infringement and other violations of federal and state laws."
The copyright claim seems like reaching to me. Although it is clear that the recordings and simultaneous transmissions of the games are copyrighted works, it seems equally clear that the copyright does not extend to the information being provided, assuming that the provider is not just retransmitting the same play-by-play to the pagers.
The AP article is online at:
http://www2.nando.net/newsroom/ap/bkb/1996/nba/nba/feat/ - archive/030596/nba48532.html
-- Terry Carroll Attorney at Law ph: 415/843-5090 Cooley Godward Castro Huddleson & Tatum fax: 415/843-0663 Five Palo Alto Square email (office): carrolltj[_at_]cooley.com Palo Alto, CA 94306-2155 email (personal): carroll[_at_]tjc.comReceived on Wed Mar 06 1996 - 08:23:04 GMT
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