The Las Vegas Journal Review reports that Zuffa is readying for trademark infringers for UFC 148. Its lawyers have obtained a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) which will allow the UFC to shut down any vendor it believes infringes on the UFC’s trademark.
The TRO coincides with International Fight Week as many fans are in Vegas for the UFC Fan Expo and 148. It allows the UFC to go after infringers within 10-miles of the MGM Grand (the event venue) and 6 hours before and after the fight. It’s expected that the UFC will have people monitoring vendors to ensure that no one is selling bootleg UFC branded gear.
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The article states that this strategy of a pre-emptive strike against potential trademark infringers has not occurred in Vegas since the Oscar de la Hoya-Felix Trinidad fight in 1999. The strategy is in line with Zuffa’s aggressive protection of its trademark. With the hype for the Silva-Sonnen fight and the UFC Expo, potential infringing vendors are very possible.
I’m confused: is this referring to parties that would attempt to broadcast unauthorized feeds of the event in the Vegas area?
van….. no, this is referring to those that are trying to sell bootleg merchandise in and around las vegas leading up to and just after the Silva-Sonnen fight… from reading the article, it seems they have run into this problem before, but on a smaller scale… guess they had to jump thru some legal hoops in order to be able to really crackdown on the offenders for this show…
That would surely be copyright infringement? My understanding is that this is things like shirts and merchandise, or using the UFC brand to promote/sell anything like an event.
MV,
Mr. Joyner is correct. Its bootleg shirts, etc. So they will have undercover folks taking down vendors selling illegal stuff. The article did say that the UFC monitors the ‘net in a media room during the event to see if there are illegal sites streaming the PPV.