Nba Vs Motorola
The National Basketball Association and NBA Properties, Inc. v. Motorola, Inc., 105 F.3d 841, Decided 1997 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Facts: Motorola manufactures a paging device called SportsTrax that transmits game information to users. In the “current” setting, the pager displays real time game statistics, including the name of the teams, the score as it changes, which team has possession of the ball, and the time remaining in the game. The information is updated every two to three minutes, and the time it takes to transmit information is also two to three minutes.
Issue: In this case, the NBA is appealing an injunction issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of …show more content…
The issue of new technology transmitting information was first seen in the International News Service v. The Associated Press case in 1918. Both parties were wire services that transmitted news to member newspapers. INS was lifting stories from AP and using them in INS newspapers. The Supreme Court ruled that INS was misappropriating AP’s property. As technology advanced, sports games and other events were broadcasted to the public. The general understanding was that these events were not copyrightable, at least not until new legislation passed in 1976. That year Congress granted copyright protection to live broadcasts of sports events. Along with this, the amendments “also contained provisions preempting state law claims that enforced rights ‘equivalent’ to exclusive copyright protections when the work to which the state claim was being applied fell within the area of copyright …show more content…
The U.S. District Court disagreed because a state law claim can be preempted when: “i) the state law claim seeks to vindicate "legal or equitable rights that are equivalent" to one of the bundle of exclusive rights already protected by copyright law under 17 U.S.C. § 106 -- styled the "general scope requirement"; and (ii) the particular work to which the state law claim is being applied falls within the type of works protected by the Copyright Act under Sections 102 and 103 -- styled the "subject matter
Facts: Motorola manufactures a paging device called SportsTrax that transmits game information to users. In the “current” setting, the pager displays real time game statistics, including the name of the teams, the score as it changes, which team has possession of the ball, and the time remaining in the game. The information is updated every two to three minutes, and the time it takes to transmit information is also two to three minutes.
Issue: In this case, the NBA is appealing an injunction issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of …show more content…
The issue of new technology transmitting information was first seen in the International News Service v. The Associated Press case in 1918. Both parties were wire services that transmitted news to member newspapers. INS was lifting stories from AP and using them in INS newspapers. The Supreme Court ruled that INS was misappropriating AP’s property. As technology advanced, sports games and other events were broadcasted to the public. The general understanding was that these events were not copyrightable, at least not until new legislation passed in 1976. That year Congress granted copyright protection to live broadcasts of sports events. Along with this, the amendments “also contained provisions preempting state law claims that enforced rights ‘equivalent’ to exclusive copyright protections when the work to which the state claim was being applied fell within the area of copyright …show more content…
The U.S. District Court disagreed because a state law claim can be preempted when: “i) the state law claim seeks to vindicate "legal or equitable rights that are equivalent" to one of the bundle of exclusive rights already protected by copyright law under 17 U.S.C. § 106 -- styled the "general scope requirement"; and (ii) the particular work to which the state law claim is being applied falls within the type of works protected by the Copyright Act under Sections 102 and 103 -- styled the "subject matter