Major League Baseball Says It Owns the Stats

Newsday reports:

Who owns Ken Griffey Jr.'s home run statistics, Roger Clemens' pitching record or the rights to Alex Rodriguez's name?

Major League Baseball claims it does. A company that runs fantasy baseball leagues disagrees. And in July, both sides will fight it out in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

If Major League Baseball wins the right to control the statistics, it could eliminate hundreds of free leagues, raise the price for the dozens of fee-based leagues and limit the variety of game formats, a lawyer for the plaintiff claims.

Here's an intellectual property rights case.