A federal judge ruled yesterday that the basic statistics about sports and the players' names are not subject to copyright.

Medler barred the baseball players union and MLB.com, the league's Internet arm that operates its own fantasy league, from interfering with CBC.

"The undisputed facts establish that the names and playing records of (MLB) players as used in CBC's fantasy games are not copyrightable and, therefore, federal copyright law does not pre-empt the players' claimed right of publicity," wrote Medler in her 49-page ruling issued in St. Louis. Even if players have a claimed right of publicity, she added, "the First Amendment takes precedence over such a right."

Concerning a possible appeal, MLB spokesman Jim Gallagher said: "We're in the process of reviewing the decision. We'll be in contact with our partners, the MLB Players Association, before commenting further."

Advice to MLB, don't waste your time.