Monday, May 31 1:13 pm PT: The UFC's parent company voluntarily dismissed its cybersquatting lawsuit over TheUltimateFighter.com on Wednesday after winning its unopposed motion for a preliminary injunction for transfer of the domain name.
In its suit filed in late April, Zuffa sought a judicial order requiring the registrar for the TheUltimateFighter.com domain name to transfer the registration over to Zuffa. Zuffa alleged that the owner of the domain name was merely squatting on the domain, and that by virtue of its registered trademarks the domain was rightfully its own.
But on Wednesday, having been granted its motion and having reached an agreement with the owner of the domain name, Zuffa filed a voluntary dismissal asking the court to dismiss the suit with prejudice.
"Zuffa, LLC has resolved its differences with Defendant theultimatefighter.com and . . . hereby dismisses the instant action with prejudice," read Zuffa's dismissal request.
On Thursday, Judge Lloyd George approved the voluntary dismissal and ordered the case dismissed with prejudice.
Prior to the hearing on the preliminary injunction, the owner of the domain name, Anton Resnick, told Sherdog.com he had no plans to oppose the injunction and said, "The issue has been resolved. (TheUltimateFighter.com) will be transferred by the court with no contest and (TheUltimateFighter.net) will be transferred to Zuffa as well."
According to Resnick, his agreement with Zuffa does not involve compensation.
Coupled with Zuffa's January 2010 acquisition of the domain name UltimateFighter.com, the resolution of this suit suggests the UFC is well positioned to continue development of the web-based platform for "The Ultimate Fighter" reality show, now is in its 11th season. In March, the UFC and Spike TV announced the launch of UltimateFighter.com as an ad-supported site that includes every fight and every fighter from each of the past seasons of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality series, which first premiered in January 2005 on the cable network.
J.R. Riddell, an attorney at the global law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, is experienced in various matters related to the business of MMA. A more detailed background regarding his experience is available through his lawyer profile at www.orrick.com. This article does not provide legal advice, and any opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of his law firm. Riddell can be reached at jriddell@sherdog.com.
