Bodog.com Loses Domain Name

Bodog.com customers were worried this week when they were unable to access the online gambling company’s service, and even more worried when they encountered the same situation Tuesday.  But Tuesday afternoon, what seemed to be Bodog’s twin brother, NewBodog.com, was available.  For all appearances, it looked to be exactly the same as the original.  It was and is. 

It turned out that the company had lost the rights to the Bodog.com domain name in a patent infringement suit with a firm named 1^st Technology LLC.  According to Nevada federal court documents, 1^st Technology sued Bodog in September 2006, claiming that Bodog illegally used a "method and system for interactively transmitting multimedia information over a network which requires a reduced bandwidth" that 1^st Technology had patented.   

In March 2007, Judge Roger L. Hunt levied a judgment of almost $49 million on Bodog after the company failed to appear in court.  Bodog again failed to appear when the case was moved to Washington state for enforcement.  Last week, at 1^st Technologies request, Judge John Erlick ordered that all Bodog-related domain names be transferred to 1^st Technology.   

Why Bodog never made it to court is unknown, but it is presumed that it may have something to do with founder Calvin Ayre’s unwillingness to set foot in the United States for fear of arrest.  Even so, one would assume that the company could be represented by its attorneys.

A 1^st Technology spokesperson said, "1st Tech has a large multi-firm team dedicated to enforcing the judgment relative to Bodog, enforcing its rights in its intellectual property and protecting its intellectual property rights relative to others active in the U.S. market, and demonstrating that no company that has customers in the United States is above or beyond U.S. legal jurisdiction.” 

So, in the meantime, Bodog has re-opened for business with the new domain, NewBodog.com.  Ayre posted a message on his site, saying in part, “We are fighting this dispute. We are confident that we will win, but until all is settled, I do not want our battle to interrupt your play.”