DraftKings loses bid to dismiss baseball player union's lawsuit

Reuters03-17

By Blake Brittain

March 17 - A Pennsylvania federal judge rejected sports-betting giant DraftKings' DKNG.O request to dismiss a lawsuit by the Major League Baseball Players Association over the platform's alleged misuse of player likenesses.

U.S. District Judge Karen Marston said in a decision released on Monday that the union plausibly alleged that DraftKings violated players' publicity rights by using their names and headshots for commercial purposes without permission.

Attorneys and spokespeople for DraftKings and the union did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The union sued DraftKings and its main rival FanDuel in September, arguing they "flagrantly" violated the rights of nearly all active players by using their names, images and likenesses on their betting platforms without a license.

DraftKings responded that it provides the same statistics, news and betting odds as traditional media, and no court has imposed right-of-publicity liability for "publicly-available, newsworthy statistics" that include athlete names and likenesses.

FanDuel settled in November.

The union on Monday dismissed its allegations in the same case against Bet365, a British gambling company. It wasn't clear whether they settled. Attorneys and spokespeople for Bet365 did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The case is MLB Players Inc v. DraftKings Inc, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, No. 2:24-cv-04884.

For the MLBPA: Jeffrey Kessler, David Greenspan and Diana Leiden of Winston & Strawn

For DraftKings: Megan Bannigan, David Bernstein and Jared Kagan of Debevoise & Plimpton

For Bet365: Airina Rodrigues and Arthur Zorio of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

Baseball MLB players union sues DraftKings, FanDuel over use of names, likenesses

FanDuel settles MLB union lawsuit over use of player likenesses

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)

((blake.brittain@tr.com; +1 (202) 938-5713))

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DraftKings loses bid to dismiss baseball player union's lawsuit

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