WPT Enterprises Gets Tough

WPT Enterprises, Inc. (WPTE), the company which created the World Poker Tour television program, announced this week that it has won several intellectual property lawsuits over the last few months.

WPTE General Counsel, Adam Pliska, explained the reasons for the court battles:

"WORLD POKER TOUR is a globally recognizable brand, and we will aggressively police the misuse of our intellectual property, to ensure the quality control of satellite events and products associated with our first class series of poker events. WPTE will protect our brands and goodwill to sustain the loyalty of our poker fans, television viewers and consumers."

Some of the defendants include:

• Ultimate Poker Challenge television show, for using WPTE footage during its telecast, as well as hiding the WPT logo with the Ultimate Poker Challenge logo.
• 5thstreet.proboards39.com, for illegal posting WPT episodes on the internet.
• Mid-Ohio Super Satellite No Limit Championship, for falsely calling itself an official WPT satellite tournament.
• World Poker Productions, Inc., for improper name and poker-related website usage, as well as for selling poker instructional videos.

WPTE’s outside counsel is Sheppard, Mullin, Richter, & Hampton in Southern California.

Originally published July 26, 2005