Bodog Inching Towards Reclamation of Domain Names

In March 2007, Nevada Judge Roger L. Hunt levied a judgment of almost $49 million on Bodog for failing to appear in court after a company named 1^st Technology sued for patent infringement. After the case moved to the state of Washington for enforcement, Judge John Erlick ordered that all Bodog-related domain names be transferred to 1^st Technology.  

Last week, Judge Hunt denied Bodog and founder Calvin Ayre’s motion to have the $49 million default judgment against the company lifted, but it was not all bad news for Ayre. 1^st Technology had requested an injunction to stop all Bodog business in the U.S., as well as an injunction to stop all Bodog traffic from redirecting to its new site, Bodoglife.com. These injunctions were denied by Hunt, as 1^st Technology “failed to satisfy the requirements for permanent injunctive relief.”

In his blog, Ayre said he still intends to appeal the default judgment and expresses his outrage at 1^st Technology for “patent trolling,” or essentially acquiring patents for no other reason but to make other companies pay for their use. According to Ayre, 1^st Technology had no intention to use the technology in question, nor does it have any use for the Bodog-related domain names. It just wants money from Ayre and his company.