Maybe this one will finally put the issue to rest.

Just a little more than a month after the U.S. district court in Minnesota ruled in CBS’ favor against the NFL Players Association over use player stats and likenesses in fantasy games, Yahoo has filed a similar suit in the same district.

In its filing, Yahoo! Alleges that NFL Players (the business arm of the players association) has threatened to sue the company if it uses player stats and “related information” in its fantasy contests without paying proper royalties fees.

The two sides had been engaged in licensing agreements before this year, but the last such deal expired on March 1, according to the Yahoo! filing. As a result of the April ruling in the CBS case, Yahoo! believes it should no longer be subject to such royalties.

Specifically, the filing includes three counts on which Yahoo! seeks judgment:

I. Declaratory judgment that Yahoo does not violate any right of publicity owned or controlled by NFL Players.

II. Declaratory judgment that a right of publicity interpreted broadly enough to encompass Yahoo’s actions is superseded by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

III. Declaratory judgment that a right of publicity interpreted broadly enough to encompass Yahoo’s actions are preempted by federal copyright law.

What this all boils down to is that the company wants an official ruling that it can run its fantasy football games just as it always has this season but without a licensing agreement and without getting sued.

The players association — which filed an appeal in the CBS case late last week — seems likely to keep fighting but could be running out of juice.

FSB.com will surely have more on this topic over the coming weeks and months.

Related posts

• Yahoo! Says Series of Contacts Preceded Filing
• Venue Shouldn’t Matter in Player Stats Disputes

The marketing branch of the NFL Players Association has filed a countersuit against CBS Sports over the issue of licensing fees for fantasy information.

In its filing, NFL PLAYERS reportedly contends that CBS Interactive sued in the wrong jurisdiction and named the wrong defendant, the NFLPA. The initial suit was filed in federal court in Minneapolis, which resides in the Eighth Circuit.

NFL PLAYERS filed the countersuit in federal court in Miami, citing the location of CBS Sports’ headquarters in Fort Lauderdale. The setting for the case could be significant because the Eighth Circuit was where favorable ruling for fantasy provider CBC kept Major League Baseball from charging licensing fees for use of player names and statistics in fantasy games, a decision that was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court before justices refused to hear it. The swath of the Midwest included in the Eighth Circuit is also particularly densely populated by fantasy sports businesses.

Representatives from the Players Association say they believe the use of the players’ information in fantasy games infringes on their rights without compensating them. CBS Sports already works under licenses for features such as player photos that run on individual player pages but is seeking an official ruling to disallow the attempted collection of fees for using names and statistics.

For the second year in a row, NFLPLAYERS.com — a subsidiary of the NFL Players Association — is teaming up with FoxSports.com to host a fantasy league made up of actual NFL players. (Well, mostly; Jay Feely is currently unemployed.)

The rest of the league roster comprises Maurice Jones-Drew, Steven Jackson (who’s holding out for a better roster), Will Witherspoon, Brian Brohm (how’d a rook sneak in?), Larry Fitzgerald, Cato June and Tatum Bell (whose team is bound to fall short of its talent level). The league has a distinctly Midwestern flavor, with half of the participants hailing from teams in that section of the country.

The league is viewable to the public, including full rosters and, already, a blockbuster transaction. It seems Bell sent Tom Brady to Feely’s team for Brian Westbrook. (Although the swap of first-round talents seems pretty even, Feely probably came out stronger. He still has Adrian Peterson and Laurence Maroney in the backfield, while Bell will start Ben Roethlisberger and his ridiculously tough schedule in place of Brady.)

It’s probably a bad sign for us Steven Jackson owners that the Rams back passed on drafting himself in Round 1 for Indy’s Joseph Addai. (Although the NFLPA site disagrees with the Fox recap, saying Jones-Drew actually had the first pick.) Fitzgerald, likewise, left himself on the board in Round 4 in favor of Torry Holt. (If only my leaguemates would underrate Fitzgerald as much as he does.) Other surprises from the top of the June draft included Brady going third among quarterbacks and LaDainian Tomlinson lingering until Pick 5.

Half of the participants own themselves, with each of the two linebackers qualifying in that category by drafting their teams’ defenses.