MLB is appealing a lower court judgment last year that ruled CBC Distribution and Marketing Inc. did not have to pay licensing fees for MLB players' names and statistics for its online fantasy league games.
The MLB argues that online fantasy games exploit its players by effectively turning them into game pieces and using their names to draw more customers.
The fantasy league industry generates more than $1.5 billion annually from millions of players. Big media companies like Yahoo, ESPN and CBS pay the MLB millions in annual fees to operate online fantasy leagues.
