In Patent Infringement suit Bodog loses Domain Names

In Patent Infringement suit Bodog loses Domain Names

Bodog is competent they will win the suit.

After losing most of his Bodog.com domain names to 1st Technology LLC in a patent infringement dispute, Calvin Ayre was forced to launch a new Gambling Web site Wednesday.

According to court documents obtained by Casino City, last September, 1st Technology sued Bodog in a federal court in Nevada, alleging the online gaming company was illegally using a method and system for interactively transmitting multimedia information over a network which requires a reduced bandwidth.

Judge Roger L. Hunt ordered Bodog to pay $48,937,456 including interest to 1st Technology in March for patent infringement.  Bodog failed to appear in court to defend itself and lost the case by default.

Venkat Balasubramani, 1st Technology’s Attorney said, “The case was moved to the state of Washington this summer for enforcement, Bodog also failed to appear there.  Balasubramani also said “ I can’t speculate as to why they might have done that, not appeared.  It is safe to assume they knew about it and definitely ignored it.”

1st Technology noted Bodog, at the enforcement proceedings, had failed to respond to the default judgment and asksed that all Bodog domains be confiscated and transferred to them.  Judge John Erlick, on August 21st agreed ordering all registrars to transfer Bodog related domains to the control of 1st Technology.

Judge Erlick said in the ruling, “The court makes it clear that the intent of this Order is to allow the Plaintiff to liquidate or otherwise monetize the Domain Names without incurring any expense.” Erlick also said, “Plaintiff may decide not to auction the domain names, and instead may operate the Domain Names in any manner it sees fit, including exploiting any traffic to the sites accessible via the domain names.”

Balasubramani, specializes in commercial litigation that involves the Internet and Technology said, “Essentially, this is all to satisfy the 1st Technology’s judgment.” And this is serious business for 1st Technology.

A company spokesman said, “1st Technology has a large multi-firm team dedicated to enforcing the judgment relative to Bodog, enforcing its rights in its intellectual property and protecting its intellectual property rights relative to others active in the U.S. market, and demonstrating that no company that has customers in the U.S. is above or beyond U.S. Legal jurisdiction.” The spokesman also said, “1st Technology is in contact with Bodog’s lawyers.” Bodog does not appear to be ignoring this any longer.

Bodog’s media relations department was contacted by Casino City Wednesday, and was told that a response to the inquiries would come as soon as possible.  Bodog initially informed the media and its customers that the company was encountering DNS issues related to several of its Web Sites, after losing its domain.

Bodog launched www.newbodog.com on Tuesday evening, and directed its customer base to the new site which was offering, the same Web Site, same brand, same service and same product. Just a new domain name added. Ayre of Bodog, later posted on the new site, that his company was involved in a legal dispute that included the rights to the Bodog.com domain names.

Ayre also said, “This is the result of a legal dispute over the ownership of Bodog.com, “We are fighting this dispute. We are confident that we will win, but until all is settled, I do not want our battle to interrupt your play.”

A spokesman for 1st Technology’s firm said, “If Ayre is trying to intimidate them, it’s not working.” “1st Technology is in this for the long haul as necessary.”

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