Opinion ID: 2583
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Agency and Output

Text: Whereas the Supreme Court noted that the NCAA did not act as a selling agent for those whose product was being sold, precisely the opposite is true of MLBP. A college that wished to have more than six of its games televised within a two-year period was forbidden, rather than helped, to do so by the NCAA. MLBP, in contrast, is the licensing agent for the MLB Clubs; it assists the Clubs in the licensing of their intellectual property. Further, whereas the NCAA plan create[d] a limitation on output by limiting the total number of televised games and the number of times any one college's games could be televised, NCAA, 468 U.S. at 99, 104 S.Ct. 2948, Salvino has not adduced any evidence of a limitation on the number of Club intellectual property licenses available here. MLBP does not limit the number of products that may be licensed (although it would doubtless refuse to license a product that it believed would reflect badly on Major League Baseball); indeed, MLBP presented evidence that it works with existing and prospective licensees to attempt to develop new products that would use MLB Intellectual Property. Salvino has not adduced any evidence that there is any agreement to limit the number of products that can be licensed or the number of entities to which licenses may be granted. Nor has Salvino pointed to any evidence from which it could reasonably be inferred that any limitation on the number of licenses, licensees, or products bearing MLB Intellectual Property is intended. Rather, as discussed in Parts I.B.2. and II.C.1. above, the business records presented by MLBP show precisely the opposite, the desire to increase the business of licensing MLB Intellectual Property. The NCAA Court also noted that output was reduced by the NCAA plan because only those broadcasters able to bid on television rights covering the entire NCAA can compete. NCAA, 468 U.S. at 108, 104 S.Ct. 2948. In effect, the NCAA offered only bulk licenses. That fact has no analogy here. Here, a prospective licensee can request and obtain from MLBP a license to use the intellectual property of some or all of the Clubs, or of any single Club.