No, it’s not a file trading service but Fancast.Com is likely to face similar legal scrutiny if it ever takes off. The idea is simple — hook up a microphone to your PC and give your own play-by-play of an ongoing sporting event. Personally, the low quality audio of such sites makes them unattractive, but some people might enjoy this.
Of course, the lawyers for the sports leagues will almost certainly try to claim that this is illegal. Anyone who has ever watched or listened to any sports broadcast is familiar with the standard disclaimer: any retransmission, rebroadcast or any other us of this telecast is prohibited without the consent of the team and league.
The person behind the site, Adam Epstein, is complicating the intellectual property argument a bit by not making money directly off the audio feeds. For now they’re free, and he plans on charging a monthly fee for the people who want to use the site to broadcast, but not listen.
There has, of course, already been a famous legal case on the intellectual property status of sports-related information. Several years ago the National Basketball Assocation sued Motorola, Stats, and AOL for providing detailed real time scores from NBA games. A US appeals court judge ruled in 1997 that the NBA doesn’t actually own the scores of its games.
Whether or not a court would extend that to what is essentially a rebroadcasting of game remains to be seen.