The DCKickball lawsuit still continues

Lizzie G., my bff, sent me a link to DCist's blog entry on the WAKA LLC v DCKickball. Apparently the lawsuit still continues. For those not in the know, WAKA is currently suing Carter Rabasa, founder of DCKickball, for the sum of $356,000 for - get this - copyright infringement and defamation. The copyright infringement stems from the supposed stealing of rules and the defamation stems from the time that Carter was quoted in the press calling WAKA the Microsoft of kickball. (It was an opinion, but furthermore, it could be argued that WAKA is the Microsoft of kickball.)

The suit is currently in its discovery phase. Fundraising so far for the case has been meager - just some $2500. That's the problem with being primarily a league for young DCers -- most of us have no money.

Anyway, the case has gotten attention in other media outlets over the past year and in the past couple of days:

• The Sports Law Blog has written today and back in 2006 about the case.
  
• The Sacramento Bee wrote yesterday about the rise of WAKA Kickball up in their area.

The Sports Law Blog quoted a John Marshall School of Law professor who pointed out the weaknesses in the WAKA case:

You are free to copy the method of play, but you need to express it in your own words (or in words in the public domain) . . . The protection for the wording of rules has limits, however. When there are only a limited number of ways to express a rule, which would seem to apply in this kickball case, others should be free to copy the rule's wording under copyright's "merger" doctrine . . . WAKA's claim sounds very weak. It seems WAKA thinks it can monopolize a game mechanic or a short, one-sentence statement of a game mechanic. -- Professor William Ford

To me, it seems as though the (moronic) bigwigs at WAKA wanted to intimidate Carter into shutting down the league. Click here to read my own two cents on the controversy... It makes me ESPECIALLY angry, given how unresponsive WAKA was to our own concerns about its lack of policing and enforcement of its policies.