paidContent - Yahoo Withdraws Lawsuit Over Rights To Fantasy-Sports Stats
This story was written by Joseph Tartakoff.
Yahoo withdrew its lawsuit against the NFL Players Association, which had promised to reignite a battle over the rights to data used in fantasy sports leagues. In a one-page filing, attorneys for Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) said that they had dismissed their claims “voluntarily and without prejudice.” The document did not provide any additional details, and spokesmen for both the Players Association and Yahoo would not comment to the Associated Press (We put in our own inquiries and will update if we hear more).
Yahoo preemptively sued the Players Association only a month ago, saying that the group had threatened Yahoo with litigation if it did not pay royalties for Players Association stats, which it uses in its fantasy sports league. In 2008, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from Major League Baseball over a similar issue, so the thought was that sports leagues could not charge media companies to use their stats. Since then, however, additional lawsuits have been filed. CBS Interactive (NYSE: CBS) filed a lawsuit against the Football Players Association in September with a similar complaint, although a judge ultimately ruled in CBS Interactive’s favor earlier this year.
Related
By Joseph Tartakoff