Major League Baseball may have realized that following in the RIAA's footsteps and becoming one of the most hated companies in America wouldn't be so good for their core business of making people watch baseball. According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), MLB wants to avoid fighting in court. MLB Advanced Media CEO Bob Bowman is quoted as saying, "The way to win this is with good content and good technology, not with lawyers. I think the music industry proved that to everybody."

We agree - legal innovation (which Slingbox most likely is) should be rewarded, not threatened out of existence with lawsuits. The most heartening part of this story is that we've made suing a costly tactic. The huge public backlash against the RIAA, the negative press about MLB last week, and the pressure from free culture groups have all made MLB think twice about pitching a lawsuit over the plate.