In a lawsuit winding its way through the Nevada court system, poker pro Russ “Dutch” Boyd is being sued by TwoPlusTwo Interactive, LLC for “cyber squatting,” or owning a website that intends to profit off the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.
In a post on TwoPlusTwo last week, site owner Mason Malmuth gave an update on the current litigation: “As many of you know, TwoPlusTwo is currently involved in litigation with professional poker player Dutch Boyd. TwoPlusTwo sued Boyd for cyber squatting, trademark infringement, and other claims after Boyd registered the domain name twoplustwopoker.com. The complaint was only served on Boyd after his numerous refusals to negotiate with TwoPlusTwo in good faith.”
According to Malmuth, Boyd made a motion to dismiss the case after being served and also filed counterclaims against the company. This brought another round of motions from the TwoPlusTwo legal team, Greenberg Traurig, to dismiss the claims and the Boyd motion. “The Court recently issued its order on both motions to dismiss,” Malmuth states in his post. “Boyd’s motion was denied in its entirety, and TwoPlusTwo’s motion was granted in its entirety. Therefore, all of our claims against Boyd remain ongoing and Boyd’s counterclaims against TwoPlusTwo have been dismissed.”
The lawsuit now moves on into the discovery phase, but Malmuth is still hoping for an amicable outcome. “We remain open to the possibility of resolving this dispute with Boyd, but so far have yet to hear a reasonable proposal from him,” Malmuth finishes his post.
The bickering between Malmuth, the owner and proprietor of the TwoPlusTwo brand, and Boyd, a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, began during the middle of 2009. According to documents from Greenburg Traurig, the domain name twoplustwopoker.com was registered in 2004, but its ownership was blocked from access. After an attorney did a domain name audit for TwoPlusTwo, the site was found to be using the trademarked moniker of the company and offering similar products and services.
After discovering the site during the audit, attorneys were able to find that the website in question was allegedly owned by Boyd through a company called JackNames.com. The attorneys filed the requisite “cease and desist” letter to the website and stated that it was possible for TwoPlusTwo to claim upwards of $100,000 plus attorney fees if the site was not returned to the company.
Boyd responded to the letter in August 2009 and offered to return the domain name to TwoPlusTwo or let the ownership lapse and not renew the domain. The legal team for TwoPlusTwo accurately pointed out that this wouldn’t solve the situation; it would put the domain in a holding pattern for approximately three months. After that, it could be entered into an auction in which TwoPlusTwo would have to compete for it.
Where things began to get problematic is whether Boyd profited from the disputed domain name. Requests by TwoPlusTwo’s legal team for financial information such as revenue, income, web traffic, affiliate links, and correspondence from JackNames.com regarding the disputed domain have not been responded to, forcing TwoPlusTwo to go to court.
Boyd responded in another thread regarding the case on the TwoPlusTwo forums in which he passes along his comments to Las Vegas Sun writer Steve Green. In that post, which also appeared in the Las Vegas Sun in December 2009, Boyd states, “Mason Malmuth is a genius poker theorist and poker author and his books are largely responsible for much of my own success in poker, including my World Series of Poker bracelet.”
“Personally, however, Mason has shown over and over that he is a bully and willing to outspend his perceived adversaries into submission. The lawsuit he is bringing against me is based on a domain name that he currently owns, twoplustwopoker.com. It is without merit and is designed to encourage me to pay him off or face a substantial legal bill defending myself against it.”
“Unfortunately, the strategy will work, and he will be successful in wasting both of our time and money as well as the Nevada taxpayer’s money. The only people who will be coming out ahead in this game are Mr. Malmuth’s overpriced attorneys.”
Malmuth doesn’t state when the litigation of the case will proceed and Boyd hasn’t commented publicly regarding it. Poker News Daily will monitor the situation and report on any further developments.