The Indiana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that online fantasy sports sites are not violating the Indiana right of publicity statute by using images and statistics of players because such information is under the “material that has newsworthy value” exception.

Three college athletes brought the suit against FanDuel, Inc. and DraftKings, Inc. for using their names, images and statistics without compensation. The websites allowed consumers to access the information for a fee.  The athletes alleged this violated the publicity statute, which prohibits using “an aspect of a personality’s right of publicity for a commercial purpose … without having obtained previous written consent.”

After looking at the statute narrowly, the court found that even though the material was being used for commercial purposes, “[i]t is difficult to find that the use of this otherwise publicly available information is somehow drastically different such that it should be placed outside the definition of ‘newsworthy.'”  The statute did not explicitly define the term “newsworthy” but the court cited precedent that interpreted the statute broadly.

Last March the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit remanded the case to state court so Indiana could determine the meaning of the term “newsworthy” present in its statute.