I think the NFL and MLB already consider their stats proprietary. I wouldn't be surprised if someone patented something and won a couple years before the leagu

I think the NFL and MLB already consider their stats proprietary. I wouldn't be surprised if someone patented something and won a couple years before the league made using that technology illegal in their games. That's a bit different, as the NFL would change the rules to prevent such a monopoly when they saw ratings go down (or not, if they went up, I guess). The whole 'salary cap' issue is already supposed to help address the problem of the wealthiest teams being able to 'buy all the talent' in the NFL, so I suspect they would move quickly. Apple's patent of fairly obvious technology (slide to unlock, already present elsewhere..rounded courners WTF?) seems a lot more ridiculous, yet the courts cannot act quickly. If it wasn't for Android competition, would iOS advance very fast? Or would you be getting a 'New color of white this year!' option in the Iphone 6G?