## Facts

- Defendants manufactured and sold tabletop baseball games marketed as “Negamco’s Major League Baseball” and “Big League Manager Baseball.”
- The games used the names and professional statistical information of approximately 500–700 Major League Baseball players, identified by team, uniform number, position, and related identifiers.
- Defendants’ advertising highlighted that consumers could “manage” hundreds of real major league players whose differing abilities were reflected through ratings derived from player statistics.
- Plaintiffs included a major league player suing on behalf of similarly situated players and the Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA).
- The MLBPA presented evidence that it was authorized by virtually all major league players to act for them in marketing and licensing group uses of players’ names and related commercial endorsements.
- Plaintiffs alleged defendants used players’ identities and performance records for commercial profit without consent or compensation.
- Defendants argued the names and statistics were publicly available and that the use was not offensive, embarrassing, or otherwise harmful in a privacy sense.

## Issues

1. Whether professional baseball players have a proprietary, commercial interest in their names, identities, and playing records sufficient to bar unauthorized commercial use in a product marketed for profit.
2. Whether the claim is limited to invasion of privacy (requiring offensiveness or personal injury) or instead states a misappropriation/right-of-publicity claim protecting a property interest.
3. Whether public availability of names and statistics places them in the public domain for unrestricted commercial exploitation.

## Decision

- The court held that major league baseball players possess a proprietary, commercial interest in their names, identities, and playing records.
- The court treated plaintiffs’ theory as misappropriation/right of publicity rather than a privacy-only claim.
- The court rejected the argument that public dissemination of names and statistics eliminates the protectable commercial interest.
- The court found defendants used the players’ names and statistical information to increase the marketability and sales of defendants’ games.
- The court granted a permanent injunction barring defendants from continued unauthorized use of players’ names and statistics in the games.

## Legal Principles

- A public figure’s name and performance record can constitute protectable commercial property when used to sell products, even if the underlying facts are publicly available.
- Misappropriation/right of publicity protects the commercial value of identity; it does not require proof that the use was offensive, embarrassing, or otherwise injurious to personal feelings.
- Publicity that makes an identity valuable does not, by itself, place that value into the public domain for commercial use without consent.
- Unauthorized commercial exploitation of identity that enhances product sales supports injunctive relief to prevent continued misappropriation.
- A players’ association may function as an authorized licensing agent for group publicity rights where players have granted it authority to market and license those rights.

## Conclusion

The court recognized a property-based right of publicity for professional baseball players in their names and playing records and permanently enjoined a game manufacturer from using those identities and statistics commercially without authorization or compensation, notwithstanding the public availability of the information.


Uhlaender v. Henricksen, 316 F. Supp. 1277 (D. Minn. 1970)