A lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court against Bodog Entertainment
Group and related parties by BlueMoon Entertainment of L.A. was dismissed
this week.
BlueMoon also dropped its lawsuit against Fox Sports Net (FSN). The
lawsuit against both Bodog Entertainment Group (and related defendants)
and Fox Sports Net was dismissed with prejudice, meaning that BlueMoon
cannot later re-assert its claims.
"My client takes accusations of this type extremely seriously
and will fight to whatever extent the law allows to ensure that frivolous
claims brought against it are dismissed," said Bodog Entertainment
Group attorney James Nguyen. "Bodog Entertainment Group
wants to make clear that entities who decide to pursue litigation
against it for capricious reasons or to try to get a quick nuisance
value settlement payment will not be rewarded," he said.
Nguyen added: "My client believes the lawsuit by BlueMoon
Entertainment was frivolous, and will vigorously defend itself from
such baseless litigation. The case brought against Costa Rican-based
Bodog and U.S.-based Fox Sports Net had no merit and it is telling
that BlueMoon Entertainment abandoned the lawsuit."
Filed in April 2006 in Los Angeles Superior Court, BlueMoon Entertainment's
lawsuit alleged that Bodog Entertainment Group and its CEO Calvin
Ayre were in breach of contract, breach of confidence and misappropriation
of ideas in relation to Ayre's self-produced reality television series,
which aired on Fox Sports Net (FSN). BlueMoon Entertainment claimed
that it had proposed a similar show to Bodog Entertainment Group,
though never had any written contract with Bodog Entertainment Group
to produce any television program or to enter into any other business
relationship together.
The Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker show was significantly different in
numerous respects from the show proposal alleged by BlueMoon Entertainment.
The only similarities were the involvement of Ayre and poker.
Immediately upon filing the suit in April, BlueMoon Entertainment
sought a temporary restraining order to halt the broadcast of Calvin
Ayre Wild Card Poker on Fox Sports Net. But BlueMoon Entertainment
lost that effort, when a judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court ruled
against it at the TRO hearing. After that loss, BlueMoon Entertainment
sought to extract a significant monetary payment from Bodog Entertainment
Group, which was flatly rejected because Bodog Entertainment Group
had no liability.
"This is just yet another case of a producer coming out
of the woodwork to file a baseless lawsuit against a successful entertainment
project because the producer somehow, somewhere met someone involved
with the project," Nguyen said. "In reality,
BlueMoon Entertainment raced to the courthouse to file this lawsuit
before the Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker series was aired on Fox Sports
Network, and therefore without even knowing what the show looked like.
Before actually seeing the Bodog program, how could BlueMoon Entertainment
reasonably believe that its supposed show proposal was strikingly
similar to Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker? The answer is BlueMoon could
not have, and my client believes that shows the lawsuit was baseless
to begin with."
This week BlueMoon representatives appeared in court and voluntarily
dismissed the case with prejudice, thus agreeing not to pursue any
more litigation against either Ayre, any member of the Bodog Entertainment
Group or Fox Sports Net in relation to the television series.
The fact that BlueMoon dismissed the lawsuit so quickly, without even
requiring Bodog Entertainment Group S.A. to file a response to the
complaint, confirms the weakness in the case, Bodog claims. Equally
telling, says a Bodog press release is that BlueMoon filed its lawsuit,
lost hearings in the case, and then promptly gave up on pursuing the
matter.
STOP PRESS:
Tit for tat in Bodog - Blue Moon PR dispute
As InfoPowa went to press this week a war of words was building over
the reasons for Blue Moon withdrawing it's case against Bodog group
this week.
The argument is largely academic, because in terms of the withdrawal
Blue Moon can not again raise the issue legally. Nevertheless, a representative
of Blue Moon Entertainment took exception to the suggestion by Bodog's
lawyer in a company press release that it had withdrawn its case against
the gambling group because it knew that it could not win a "frivolous"
and "baseless" case.
Spokesperson Grace Williams said: "Bluemoon elected to
dismiss this case because Bodog and Mr. Ayre have shielded themselves
from U.S.civil as well as criminal law. Bodog's lawyers can spin the
dismissal any way they choose in the press, but their PR efforts won't
change the fact that Bodog deliberately maintains all of its assets
outside the reach of U.S. civil court judgments. Even serving routine
court papers, let alone trying to collect a judgment, was a challenge"
Los Angeles-based television production company Bluemoon Entertainment
says it withdrew its otherwise strong lawsuit against online gaming
operator Bodog.com due to the defendant’s offshore status and
lack of U.S. assets, both of which make it very unlikely that Bluemoon
could collect any potential judgment in the U.S.
"While Mr. Ayre's ‘catch me if you can’ statements
regarding efforts to criminalize online gaming have been widely publicized,
people in the entertainment industry are probably not aware that he
has also positioned himself, Bodog and all of the company’s
assets beyond U.S. civil judgments," added Williams. "This
case should serve as a wake-up call to U.S. companies considering
doing business with such firms."