Law Commons^™

The Freedom To Imagine Fantasy Sports: Applying New Ideas In Copyright Law To Professional Athletes' Right Of Publicity, Ryan T. Holte

Prof. Ryan T. Holte

The paper deals with the creation and growth of online fantasy sports games which have resulted in a struggle between the First Amendment rights of sports fans and sports players' right of publicity. Fantasy sports websites state that they have a constitutional right to use players' names in their online programs which allow customers to build their own fantasy teams. Professional sports leagues argue that they, and the players, have spent great time and money in building the names and public images of professional athletes, and deserve to be compensated through state right of publicity laws. Currently courts are left …