This past Monday, Dan Henderson has sued Matt Lindland for the rights to the name of Team Quest. The lawsuit filed in California claims copyright and trademark infringement against Lindland over the Team Quest mark.
Via Cage Potato:
The dispute centers on ownership and rights to the Team Quest name. Henderson was at one point the sole owner of the fight club, but later sold a minority share in the company to Lindland. Henderson operates his branch of the franchise out of Temecula, California, with four other locations calling California and Oregon home. Money is no doubt at the heart of this battle. While Hendo is known to be soft-spoken, his counterparts in Oregon are no strangers to speaking their mind. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in and out of the courtroom.
According to the Complaint, the story is a little different from Cage Potato, Henderson and Randy Couture created Team Quest in 1999. The Complaint claims Lindland joined Team Quest in 2001. It states that Henderson and Couture are “senior” users of the Team Quest mark, which include: Team Quest (since 1999), Team Quest MMA Fitness (since 2005) and the Team Quest Logo (the Team Quest “fist”). Couture has since relinquished any rights in Team Quest he may have had to Henderson. Lindland agreed to pay royalties to Henderson for Team Quest clothing. In 2005, Lindland filed trademarks for Team Quest without informing the US Patent and Trademark Office of knowledge that a party had senior rights to the trademark. A fight over the mark ensued thus the genesis of this lawsuit.
Payout Perspective:
I am sure that in 1999, Couture, Henderson or Lindland could not have imagined the financial success of MMA, let alone Team Quest. We do note that Lindland has not filed an official response (Answer) to the allegations by Henderson. So, we cannot tell the reasons behind Lindland filing with the USPTO the trademark and copyright for Team Quest in 2005.
This lawsuit shows the importance of branding as well as trademarks. With 6 gyms in Oregon and California, Team Quest has grown and the name is synonymous with the sport. But, Team Quest is much more than a fight camp, it also serves as a workout facility for ordinary people. The name recognition is important, so the battle over the rights to it will be very interesting.
It will be interesting to see Lindands response.
Lindands response was graded “F” by the court, law suit will proceed.