MLB Players Inc. settled its lawsuit with FanDuel on Friday.
MLB Players Inc., a commercial affiliate of the Major League Baseball Players Association, and FanDuel agreed to a voluntary settlement with both sides paying their own legal costs. A FanDuel spokesperson said they signed a confidential licensing agreement with the MLB union, according to Reuters. The settlement was also “dismissed with prejudice,” which means it can’t be filed again.
In September, the MLBPA filed name, image, and likeness (NIL) lawsuits against the gaming sites FanDuel, DraftKings, bet365, and Underdog Fantasy. The MLBPA claimed the sites used images of nearly every active player to promote prop bets without the association’s permission.
“For professional athletes, the ability to control the commercial use of their names, images, and likenesses is a crucial return on their substantial career investment,” the players union said on filing the initial suits.
The lawsuit against FanDuel and Underdog Fantasy was filed in Manhattan, while the lawsuit against DraftKings and bet365 was filed in Philadelphia. The Underdog lawsuit appears to be moving forward in New York.
Meanwhile, the case against DraftKings and bet365 is still pending in federal court in Philadelphia. Since FanDuel has agreed to a licensing deal, however, it will likely put more pressure on the remaining defendants to follow suit.
Some NIL lawsuits, like the one the MLBPA has against the chain store Sheetz, may seem trivial. But if intellectual property rights aren’t adequately and consistently protected, courts can rule that the owners have, de facto, waived their rights to the property. So, the onus is on the owners – in this case the players represented by the MLBPA – to vigorously defend those rights.
