The WIAA (Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association) and several broadcast television stations have filed a lawsuit against the Appleton Post-Crescent (owned by Gannett Co.) and the Wisconsin Newspaper Association for “violat[ing]…the exclusive rights and ownership of the WIAA.”  

The lawsuit claims that the Post-Crescent infringed on the exclusive media rights owned by the WIAA for streaming live video of a high school football game on its Web site in November.  The WIAA says the video stream “constituted an entertainment event” and is now asking a Portage County judge to declare that the WIAA has the right to “control the transmission, Internet stream, photo, image, film, videotape, audiotape, writing, drawing or other depiction of any game, game action, game information, or any commercial used [sic] of the same of an athletic event that it sponsors.” In addition, the WIAA wants the court to order that it has the right to “grant exclusive rights to others, including the plaintiffs named pursuant to Wis. Stats. § 803.03 for tournament events that it sponsors.”

According to the Post-Crescent’s story about the suit, this issue has been brewing since 2007 from other disagreements between the WIAA and the media.  The complaint says the Wisconsin Newspaper Association’s attorneys sent a letter to the WIAA in late October 2008 “challenging the WIAA’s right to control Internet streaming and challenging the WIAA’s authority to grant exclusive coverage rights to its sponsored events.” The suit was filed on December 5, but there is no information as to why the story is just coming to light now.

The WIAA is being represnted by Stevens Point-based Anderson, O’Brien, Bertz, Skrenes & Golla.  Online court information of this case was not available at the time of this posting, but the records of the entire case file have been requested.

• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report
• AP report
• Wisconsin Law Journal report
• Wausau Daily Herald report (including an interesting note about how this could affect the high school press)
• National Press Photographers Association report

UPDATE: Wausau Daily Herald (owned by Gannett Co.) runs editorial in defense of the Post-Crescent:

Whether a blurry figure in the background, blocking for the quarterback as he threw a pass that led D.C. Everest to victory, or a name in the box score — one hit, one walk, two RBIs — of a Wausau West softball game recap, or even a front-page photo of Mosinee teammates celebrating with a trophy at state, that clipping probably got saved in a scrapbook or stuck to the family fridge with a magnet.

These are the moments of life that a community newspaper is tasked with capturing; the stories that we tell to our readers. They are the texture of central Wisconsin, inasmuch as school sports help define us and anchor us.

They are not the property of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. They are our property — the people of the cities and towns that newspapers across the state journal every day.

But not according to the WIAA.