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UFC Sued Over 'Fan Expo' Event Name - Bloody Elbow

Hobby Star Marketing, a company which holds pop culture conventions for comic books, science fiction and other pop culture phenomena has sued the UFC over it's use of the Fan Expo name this weekend in Toronto. One of Hobby Star's largest events is FanExpo Canada and they have filed an injunction at the last minute against the UFC. From Comic Book Resources:

In the federal court statement obtained by CBR News, Hobby Star has filed for trade-mark infringement on the name "Fan Expo" as well as the slogan "The Ultimate Fan Experience" and the web domain UFC Fan Expo Toronto - Premier MMA Event | Fighter Autographs | Meet & Greets | Training Sessions. The papers were filed in a Toronto federal court and make no mention of previous UFC events labeled as "Fan Expos" such as a London, England event last summer, nor do they mention anything about the company's potential plans for a Fan Expo in Las Vegas this summer. This is likely because Hobby Star only have the "Fan Expo" trademark registered within Canada.

Zuffa, as legal owners of all names and trade-marks associated with the UFC, are listed as the primary defendant while Reed takes a secondary role in the brief as the organizer of the event, which is set to kick off this Friday at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto.

The document reveals that Hobby Star seeks an injunction against promoting or selling anything involving the mark and slogan as well as an order to "deliver up or destroy upon oath all clothing, goods labels, packages, advertising materials, signage, printed matter, including all plats, moulds, matrices, and other material for producing or printing such items and any other matter or materials in print or electric form" that fall under the offending names. Additionally, in its case Hobby Star cites the fact that a Reed employee named John McGeary was formerly associated with Fan Expo Canada in some capacity and therefore had knowledge of the trade-mark's use in Canada.

*Follow the link for the full article.

[IceCold48]

i dont think that should be something that should be allowed to be trademarked. it is an expo for fans. thats like the cubs suing the yankees for the term 'baseball stadium'.

[YukonJordan]

If the name is trademarked then the UFC dropped the ball on this one. Shouldn't be too hard to think of another name quickly that doesn't infringe on anyone legal rights.

[trustkill]

I wonder if anyone with a legal background could shed some light on this predicament. Is there a precedent for this sort of thing? I'm guessing that if both companies have "overlapping" trademarks then the burden will likely be on the UFC since they're doing business in Canada. Zuffa might have to break off a piece of that $11 million gate to legally run their event. And I suspect the timing of the lawsuit is designed to give Hobby Star the most leverage, right before the event.

[Caine2878]

I think this is ridiculous filing an injunction over the name Fanexpo? Really? Zuffa should just change the name of the event to UFC Fan Day and be done with it. I wouldn't pay those money hungry idiots nothing!

[Kimbo> Rampage]

Sounds like a bunch of bs.

[GL Jeff]

Why would you even try to go to court with the UFC? Their going to win the case, because a Fan Expo is a widely used term,used all around the world, by hundreds of conventions. UFC wins,and sues this little buisness for their legal fees, sending them out of buisness.

[Xanatos]

Originally Posted by GL Jeff

Why would you even try to go to court with the UFC? Their going to win the case, because a Fan Expo is a widely used term,used all around the world, by hundreds of conventions. UFC wins,and sues this little buisness for their legal fees, sending them out of buisness.

Agree. Fan Expo is a pretty widely used term, I hear it all the time, it's an easily debatable thing, and the UFC will stretch this out until that Hobby Star marketing just gives up

[YukonJordan]

Originally Posted by GL Jeff

Why would you even try to go to court with the UFC? Their going to win the case, because a Fan Expo is a widely used term,used all around the world, by hundreds of conventions. UFC wins,and sues this little buisness for their legal fees, sending them out of buisness.

The UFC expo is Friday meaning the timing of the lawsuit is kind of dickish.

If my knowledge is correct they aren't allowed to use the fan expo name in any way shape or form until the lawsuit is settled. The other potential outcome is they can still use the name for the current expo but would face significant damages should the court rule in the plaintiffs side.

If this company actually owns the trademark to the term "fan expo" in Canada then it's really an open and shut case. The UFC's best course of action is to settle. If the judge rules against them before the expo all of their merchandise, signage or any other media referring to it as "fan expo" would be useless. If the judge rules against them after the expo then the potential damages would increase greatly.

[xrjxarsonx]

although they are totally unrelated, i kind of see how this screws shit up for hobbystar.

the hobbystar FanExpo is in the same building in like 3 months, and they are advertising like hell in the city and online about the guest list being released soon and to check their website for details.

Now UFC is advertising using the FanExpo name and slogan, so I can totally see how marketing wise this is can be confusing to normal dumb people.

Its says Hobbystar is doing an injunction on all marketing and merchandise with the Fanexpo name, so at least they are just saying stop using our name, not give us boat loads of money.

I wonder why they waited so long though, doesnt the expo start tomorrow? the event will be over before anyone can even read their claim.