Bodog now Newbodog
It appears that at least in the short term Bodog Entertainment Group is going to be forced into using the alternate domain newbodog.com for all of it’s gaming customers. The online gaming and entertainment giant appears to of lost control over the domains bodog.com and bodog.net due to a United States legal judgment over a Process Patent lawsuit filed in Las Vegas last year.
The patent belongs to Las Vegas resident Mel Molnick of 1st Technology LLC and broadly covers the process by which gambling is performed over the internet. 1st Technology LLC has been successful in receiving substantial settlements from other gaming companies in the past. The lawsuit against Bodog was for just over $48.5Mil USD.
Bodog lost control of the domain names Bodog.com and Bodog.net because the registrar of those two domain names was a US based company. The Bodog name and other Bodog sites which weren’t registered with US companies have not been affected.
Ironically the US Courts ignored Bodog Entertainment Group’s international trademark rights when enforcing this lawsuit.
While there has been little disruption of service to Bodog customers, the real issue at hand is the marketing and re-branding of the newbodog.com name.
Bodog has been a leader in search engines like Google and Yahoo for many years ranking at the top of many prime online sports, poker and casino gambling terms. While Bodog can open a mirror site within a few hours and continue with their business, getting those same search rankings with a new URL is going to be a struggle.
Also up in the air currently are Bodog’s present and future marketing campaigns. If Bodog is unable to reacquire their prized domain names, steps will almost certainly need to be taken to recall campaigns and re-brand promotional items.
Bodog boasts a large number of affiliate partners who will also be affected. Contact has already been made by the Bodog Affiliate Team to get affiliates to redirect traffic to the newbodog.com domain.
We expect Bodog will release additional information within the next day or so and we will be providing additional updates as they become available.
Related Links: Name dispute causes disruption at Bodog, Official Bodog Statement, Bodog Customer Statement
by: Michael Cash – theSpread.com – Email Us
More Sports Betting Coverage from theSpread.com
– Sports Betting top stories
– Real-time live betting odds
– Parlay calculator
– Betting downloads
– Sports Betting glossary
– Sports book reviews
– Online betting guide
– Expert picks
– Comments and discussion
– Signup for theSpread.com daily newsletter
– Sports Betting Home
