Cardtoons V. Major League Baseball Players Association

Cardtoons, L.C. v. Major League Baseball Players Ass’n 10th Circuit Court of Appeals 208 F.3d 885 (10th Cir. 2000) Key Search Terms: antitrust immunity, publicity rights, right to petition, First Amendment, baseball Facts Cardtoons took steps to produce parody baseball trading cards which contained images of major league baseball players. Cardtoons contracted with Champs Marketing, Inc. to print the cards for a set fee. The Major League Baseball Players Association sent a cease and desist letter to Champs threatening litigation for violation of publicity rights if they didn’t stop printing the cards. Champs informed Cardtoons that it intended to stop printing the cards. Issue This appeal set out to decide whether pre-litigation threats communicated solely between private parties are afforded immunity by the right to petition guaranteed by the First Amendment. Holding The Tenth Circuit addressed whether Noerr-Pennington Immunity applied in this case. They found that outside of the antitrust context immunity applies solely on the basis of the right to petition. The case at hand involved private parties and the threat was not addressed to the government. The court of appeals held that the First Amendment protects only those petitions which are made to the government; thus, purely-private threats of litigation are not afforded immunity. The court of appeals reversed and remanded. Summarized By: Laura Brackey