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BlueMoon representatives appeared in court and voluntarily dismissed the case 'with prejudice'
A lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court against Bodog Entertainment Group (see previous InfoPowa bulletins) 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.
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"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 ofAyre 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 defendants 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 companys 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."
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