Trade Group Files Complaint Against Pro Sports

— -- A technology trade group has filed a U.S. Federal Trade Commission complaint against two professional sports leagues and four corporations, saying the groups violate consumers' fair-use rights under U.S. copyright law.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) complained that the copyright warnings from the National Football League, Major League Baseball, NBC Universal Inc. and other companies trample on fair-use rights that allow consumers to copy portions of copyright works for criticism, commentary, educational and other reasons. CCIA called for an FTC investigation into the copyright warnings.

The companies use copyright warnings on broadcasts, books and DVDs "not to educate consumers, but to intimidate them," said Ed Black, CCIA's president. "Certain warnings mislead consumers."

Major League Baseball's copyright warning says broadcasts "may not be reproduced or retransmitted in any form, and the accounts and descriptions of this game may not be disseminated without express written consent."

Such warnings overstep the owner's copyrights, CCIA said. The baseball warning would suggest that bloggers couldn't describe a home run in a game they watched, or a fan couldn't talk about a game with co-workers, Black said.

The complaint, filed Tuesday, also named movie studio DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. and book publishers Harcourt Inc. and Penguin Group USA Inc. The companies in the complaint represent the most "blatant" abusers of copyright warnings, Black said.