U.S. PIRG Consumer Blog: Supremes reject "strange law" appeal by Major League Baseball

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined without comment an appeal from Major League Baseball seeking to overturn an Eighth Circuit decision that protected information already in the public domain, baseball statistics, from being restricted by MLB. The case has widespread implications for the sharing and uses of information.

As the New York Times story by Linda Greenhouse, No Ruling Means No Change for Fantasy Baseball Leagues points out, the ruling means that: "the identity and performance of major league ballplayers was in the public domain and could not be cordoned off without violating the First Amendment."

IP Justice is one of the many non-profit public interest groups advocating for greater access to knowledge and greater limits on the rights of content-owners to control information. It says:

More from IP Justice:

[...]How important is the High Court’s decision today to let stand the Eighth Circuit's opinion? In the brief time the opinion has been published -- and despite a then-pending petition for certiorari, the opinion has already been cited 36 times by commentators, parties and at least one other Court. [...] An obvious "win" for Free Speech advocates and "netizens" concerned with ensuring open access to information on the Internet, the case also helps the burgeoning field of Internet information consolidators who help consumers collect information and process it.

U.S. PIRG, of course, also supports access to knowledge (previous blog).

By the way, now that my top slugger Ryan Howard (1b, Phillies) has started hitting with authority (15 HR, 43 RBI for year, but 5 HR and 18 RBI for just the last two weeks), I just need my ace pitcher Aaron Harang's real-world Cincinnati Reds teammates to give him some run support so he can get some wins (he's just 2-7 with electric stuff, makes no sense) and move my team -- the Hitmen -- up in the standings!