NFL Player Has Had Enough of Daily Fantasy Sports Site Commercials (At Least One of Them)
If you are like us, you are a part of the growing number of people who are getting sick of the incessant commercials for those daily fantasy sports sites, FanDuel and DraftKings. Count Washington Redskins wider receiver Pierre Garcon as one of them. According to a report from ESPN, Garcon has filed a class-action lawsuit against FanDuel (but not DraftKings – more on that below). The suit, filed in federal court in Maryland, accuses FanDuel of misusing players’ names and likenesses without proper licenses or permission.
To be fair, Garcon is not necessarily upset about the sheer volume of the commercials, but rather the frequency with which his name occurs in them. For example, in one 28-minute infomercial, Garcon’s name is seen 53 times. We assume the 53 times is more than overkill as Garcon would have taken issue with the use of his name even once.
This case is interesting on several fronts. First, this isn’t necessarily a case of a company fraudulently acting as if a famous person is endorsing its product. While we admittedly have not seen every commercial or the 28-minute infomercial (thankfully), we have not seen an instance where Garcon’s name is being used in a manner that would even imply that he is a FanDuel supporter. Rather, Garcon’s name is used in examples of how the fantasy sports site operates. Users draft players like Garcon based on daily “salaries” contingent on the player’s statistics and value. As a decent player with decent fantasy value, Garcon’s name and statistics are bound to come up in the examples.
FanDuel apparently takes the position that it has every right to use Garcon’s name in this context. As FanDuel spokeswoman Justine Sacco said in a statement, “We believe this suit is without merit. There is established law that fantasy operators may use player names and statistics for fantasy contests.” The law she is referring to is the case of National Basketball Assoc. v. Motorola, Inc., 105 F.3d 841 (2nd 1997), in which the Second Court of Appeals held that federal copyright statutes do not allow for the ownership of data. If this case really is about data, then maybe FanDuel has an ally.
Apart from the merits, the more intriguing thing about this lawsuit is the fact that DraftKings, who advertises in a similar manner to FanDuel, is not a party. The simple answer to its omission is that DraftKings has a marketing relationship with the NFL Players Association and such it is permitted to use the players in its advertising. The more interesting question though is whether DraftKings played any role in urging Garcon and the NFLPA to bring the suit in the first place. What better way to take down a competitor than to sit back and watch a class action lawsuit unfold against it?
