Baltimore Orioles v. Major League Baseball Players Ass'n
United States Court of Appeals for Seventh Circuit
805 F.2d 663 (1986)
Standard player contracts since 1947 gave baseball teams all rights connected to game broadcasts for publicity purposes, though later collective bargaining language preserved whatever broadcast rights either side already had. In 1982 the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) (defendant) told teams and broadcasters that telecasting games without players' consent misappropriated the players' property right in their performances. The Baltimore Orioles and other clubs (plaintiffs) sued for a declaration that they exclusively owned the telecasts; the district court agreed, and the MLBPA appealed.
Whether, in a work-made-for-hire arrangement, baseball players rather than their clubs own the copyright in telecasts of the games they play, and whether any club copyright preempts players' state-law publicity claims.