Stevo Design, Inc. v. Brandon Link, Case No. 1:2010cv24283 (SDFL December 1, 2010)
Complaint| Exhibit A |Exhibit B
According to the complaint, “Stevo Design provides sports handicapping services. In general, handicapping is the practice of assigning advantage through scoring compensation or other advantage given to different contestants to equalize the chances of winning…Stevo Design operates over 7 internet-only sports handicapping brands, and services over 10,000 unique clients worldwide. This is accomplished online via pay-per-view sports analysis and selections, or what is commonly known as providing ‘Sports Picks’. Stevo Design employs more than 15 full-time sports handicapping professionals to analyze games and sporting events on a daily basis throughout the year and deliver their opinions and rated selections to clients.”
Several years ago, a movie was made about the world of sports handicappers. The film was called Two for the Money, and it starred Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey, and Rene Russo. One of the main characters was based on a Stevo handicapper named Brandon Link. As far as I know, Brandon Link is Brandon’s real name. However, in the movie, Mr. Link is named “Brandon Lang.”
Sensing marketing opportunities, Stevo submitted a service mark application to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) for the mark “BRANDON LANG” for the following services: “Handicapping for sporting and other entertainment events.” The application was submitted March 15, 2007, and a registration ws issued on June 17, 2008. The registration information may be viewed HERE.
It’s somewhat rare, but not unusual, for a living person’s full name to receive a trademark registration, but given the obvious boost in visibility that the movie would bring to Stevo’s services, it makes sense that Stevo would want to protect the Brandon Lang “brand.” Following the success of the movie, Brandon Link continued offering his handicapping services under the Brandon Lang name.
As alleged in the complaint, at some point the relationship between Brandon and Stevo broke down. The details are in the complaint, but ultimately, the parties decided to part ways. They signed a separation agreement, and one of the counts in the complaint is based on Brandon’s alleged breach of that agreement.
The reason that the case is appearing on Florida IP Trends is because of the unique trademark infringement issue – specifically, infringement of the registered BRANDON LANG mark. The infringement is allegedly based on Brandon’s use of the BRANDON LANG name in providing handicapping services and in the use of Brandon’s website, which is located at
www.therealbrandonlang.com. Stevo runs
www.brandonlang.com. [12/7/2010 UPDATE: I noticed that one of the search terms used to hit Florida IP Trends was "brandon lang, website cancelled" so I checked out both sites. It does appear that therealbrandonlang.com is currently down. Perhaps settlement talks are underway.]
Brandon Link/Lang
Sharp readers are probably scratching their heads at this point. That’s right, The case is Stevo Design v. Brandon Link. Brandon Lang is a fictional character in a movie. (I couldn’t find any fictional name/dba’s in the Florida Secretary of State records.)
So, doesn’t Stevo still have the right to prevent others from offering services under a trademark registration owned by Stevo? Absolutely. But here’s the problem. In order to obtain a trademark registration for a personal name, the applicant must inform the USPTO if the mark does indeed identify a particular living individual, and if so, then that living individual must submit a signed consent statement indicating that he or she consents to their name being used in the trademark application.
As THIS document shows, on June 23, 2007, the USPTO Examining Attorney followed proper procedure by asking Stevo if Brandon Lang was a living individual, and if so, then a consent form was required. If Brandon Lang was NOT a living individual, then Stevo was supposed to reply as such.
Responding three days past the six month deadline for a response, on December 26, 2007, Attorney Mark Jordan submitted a signed consent form from “Brandon Lang.” You can view the form HERE (see page 3).
Say huh? Sure as heck, on Christmas Day, 2007, one “Brandon Lang” signed his name to a form indicating that he consented to his name being used in the trademark application.
I’m no Columbo, but I had a hunch Luckily, one of the exhibits to the Stevo v. Link complaint is the separation agreement signed by Brandon Link.
Defendant Brandon Link (“Link”) began working as a sports handicapper for
Stevo Design on or about November of 2004. Thereafter, Link became a highly recognizable
character in the sports handicapping industry, because a major motion picture was released in
2005 that was based on a highly-fictionalized account of Link’s life story. The film, starring
Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey, was entitled “Two for the Money.” Although
Defendant’s legal name is “Brandon Link,” Defendant’s character in “Two for the Money”
was ultimately and finally re-named “Brandon Lang” by the movie’s producers. It was in
anticipation of the release of the film and associated public awareness of the character name
“Brandon Lang,” that Stevo Design determined to use the mark BRANDON LANG in
connection with sports handicapping services. Specifically, when BrandonLang.com was
launched three days before the release of the movie, Brandon Link became the spokesman
and face for the Brandon Lang brand.
Beginning on or about September 1, 2007 through April 16, 2010, Defendant
Link began to exhibit a consistent losing streak in his sports handicapping predictions, which
caused a significant loss of clients. In addition, Link employed high-pressure sales techniques and objectionable business practices, which in the opinion of Stevo Design
significantly contributed to his client loss. Link began to receive large volumes of extremely
negative correspondence in relation to his lack of success, and his poor performance and
objectionable sales techniques became the subject of substantial and frequent discussions by
and between clients and in online discussion forums.
4.11 In order to preserve the integrity and value of the Mark, maintain a high level
of industry-wide brand recognition for BrandonLang.com, and to overcome Brandon Link’s
inability to win on any type of consistent basis, Stevo Design engaged in numerous efforts to
preserve the economic value and integrity of the Mark. During this period, Stevo Design
syndicated its nine best pre-sports handicapping professionals onto the BrandonLang.com
website. The effort was successful. These syndicated sports handicapping professionals reconnected the brand with a perception of successful sports handicapping, and ultimately
these professionals dominated the overall sales on Brandon Lang.com website In addition,
Stevo Design continually was required to provide new leads from all of its other brands to
BrandonLang.com in order to rebuild the database each time Brandon Link’s lack of success
caused the client base and revenue to decline.
4.12 The problems and client loss identified above were recurrent. Each time Link
depleted and diminished the BrandonLang.com client base, it became the responsibility of
Stevo Design to replenish it with new customers. It also became apparent that Link was
ineffective in efforts to obtain new customers or maintain his client base without Stevo
Design's assistance including media contacts; Stevo Design's technical, marketing and
advertising assistance
http://kwimberly.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/stevo-design-v-brandon-link-complaint.pdf