FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NFLE-4
12/8/99
FOR MORE INFO CONTACT: BRIAN McCARTHY, NFL, 212-450-2069
NFL ADVANCES FIGHT AGAINST CYBERPIRACY WITH LAWSUIT UNDER
NEW ANTI-CYBERSQUATTING CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT
Sues NFLTODAY.COM Website That Promoted Gambling on NFL Games For Trademark Cyberpiracy, Trademark Infringement, Copyright Infringement
The National Football League advanced its fight against cyberpiracy by filing a suit yesterday in U.S. District Court in New York City against an Internet website operator for extensive unauthorized use of numerous federally registered NFL and team trademarks and copyrighted material. The site promotes gambling on NFL games.
The suit alleges the operator, Ken Miller of Clearlake Park, CA, and his site, identified under URLs NFLtoday.com, NFLtoday.net and NFLtoday.org, violate NFL rights in the areas of trademark cyberpiracy, trademark and copyright infringement, federal trademark dilution and misappropriation.
The NFL is seeking injunctive relief, transfer of the domain registrations and unspecified damages.
The site promotes gambling on NFL games by supplying "picks" for NFL games, providing direct links to gambling sites, publishing statistics on NFL teams and players, using NFL Trademarks in the website’s metatags, and "framing" the NFL’s official website, NFL.com.
"The website represents the epitome of cyberpiracy, trademark and copyright infringement and dilution," said Gary Gertzog, Senior Vice President Business Affairs and General Counsel of NFL Properties. "This suit sends a strong signal to those website operators who falsely affiliate their sites with the NFL and tarnish the NFL’s goodwill. The NFL has a long-standing tradition of aggressively protecting its valuable intellectual property rights and will continue to do so in cyberspace."
The suit is believed to be one of the first, if not the first, brought under the new Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act of the Lanham Act signed into law last week by President Clinton. The suit contends the operator committed trademark cyberpiracy by using domain names with the trademark "NFL" as well as inappropriately using NFL Trademarks in the content of its website. The NFL believes it was done in bad faith with the intent to profit and divert Internet users seeking NFL information. The site’s unauthorized use of NFL Trademarks is likely to cause fans mistakenly to believe the sites are sponsored or approved by the NFL.
In addition to infringing and diluting the NFL’s assets, the site republishes copyrighted NFL.com content without NFL consent.