Bodog and 1st Technology Patent Case Debate Ignites Out of Court

The Bodog-1st Technology patent case heated up outside the court last week in a series of exchanges between Bodog Founder, Calvin Ayre, and 1st Technology head, Dr. Scott Lewis, where Ayre reiterated that his company was not properly served when 1st Technology filed a patent infringement lawsuit that ultimately resulted in the loss of the domain name known to many poker players: Bodog.com, (see Bodog press release below).

Lewis replied that "regardless of what name(s) they change the Judgment Debtor entities to, the legal situation remains that they have been found liable for a $49M judgment and we, the Judgment Creditor are entitled to pursue discovery using subpoenas and other means to unravel the 'corporate shell game'," as quoted on Gambling911 last Friday.

Below is the press release that Bodog issued Feb 22 maintaining that 1st Technology continues to engage the wrong company in the patent case, followed by the reply Lewis issued:

BODOG PRESS RELEASE

Recent reports indicate that Scott Lewis and 1st Technology, LLC ("1st Tech") have increased their use of scare tactics in their case against a domain management company which, at one time, provided their services to Bodog, by targeting advertisers that work in conjunction with Bodog with subpoenas. Unfortunately for Scott Lewis and 1st Tech, as previously established on several occasions, Bodog and its former domain management service provider (now known as "Data Entry and Domain Management, S.A.") are entirely separate companies, one simply having provided services to the other. At no time did Data Entry and Domain Management, S.A. have a corporate relationship with Bodog. As such, no amount of subpoenas sought from companies that work in conjunction with Bodog will be of any use in 1st Tech's frivolous patent dispute.

As is clearly stated by the Antigua Gaming Commission, Bodog (now Bodoglife.com on the Internet) has been based in Antigua since fall 2006 and had been previously operating there under a license that was obtained when purchased from BetWWTS. Shortly thereafter, Bodog obtained its own license from the Antigua Gaming Commission, months prior to 1st Tech receiving a default judgment against Bodog's former independent domain management service provider.

The Bodoglife.com domain was established shortly after the original Bodog domain was lost and has never received redirects from Bodog.com. The Bodoglife.com domain is no way connected with 1st Tech's case and it stretches credulity for 1st Tech to claim that relationships between Bodog and its suppliers in relation to this domain could be in any way relevant to 1st Tech's effort to collect its questionable default judgment from an independent, defunct, and essentially insolvent ex-service provider. No subpoena that is targeted at anything to do with Bodog.com should affect Bodoglife.com or .net advertising relationships.

Bodog's former domain management service provider is and has always been based in Costa Rica (not Antigua) and has only ever provided Bodog with domain management and data entry services. Bodog did at one time allow the domain management service to use the Bodog name to make their domain management work for Bodog easier, but that is no longer and will never again be the case.

"The company targeted by Scott Lewis and 1st Tech in the patent dispute is not and has never been Bodog," says Bodog Founder Calvin Ayre. "The company itself has been asset-less since long before litigation even began. No amount of subpoenas issued on the part of Scott Lewis and 1st Tech will make the wrong company the right company or put assets into an asset-less company. At this point they're just chasing shadows."

For the latest perspective from Calvin Ayre's blog, please see www.calvinayrelife.com/digital-entertainment/patent-dispute-setting-the-record-straight-again.html. For ongoing coverage of the patent dispute with Scott Lewis and 1st Tech, visit www.calvinayrelife.com.

# # # End of Bodog Press Release

1st TECHNOLOGY REPLY

In response to the above Bodog press release, Lewis was quoted in Gambling911 as saying, "The argument over whether Bodog Entertainment Group S.A. along with Bodog.com and Bodog.net, etc., are really the same as the online gaming company that downloads and makes millions of dollars a year is, in fact, a dead dog," he said. "This was put forward by the Defendants and summarily rejected by the judge in Federal Court on October 11, 2007; the judge upheld that our service on the Judgment Debtors for patent infringement was legally binding despite the various corporate entity arguments."

"(Per the minutes) The Court, in essence, is not going to permit some sort of corporation shell game to be used to avoid service in this case."

ADVERTISING VENUES SUBPOENAED

1st Technology has subpoenaed a number of advertising venues for Bodog, according to reports in Gambling911.

When Gambling911 asked Lewis the rationale behind the subpoenas, he replied, "The U.S. Federal Court system gives broad powers for Judgment Creditors (1st Tech) to discover documents and corporate relationships that may lead to assets of the Judgment Debtors and also to determine the extent of damages (e.g. U.S. downloads, e.g. U.S. customers). One of the best sources for this evidence is the U.S. advertisers and affiliates who enable and get compensated based upon the infringing U.S. downloads to U.S. customers and other related entities."

STOP THE 3 RING CIRCUS

Gambling industry analysts and players are watching this public sparring match, and listening to both sides of the argument.

One industry analyst told Gambling911, "He (Ayre) may have a strong case but he needs to stop turning this into a three ring circus by antagonizing the guy (Lewis) on his blog," said the industry analyst who wished to remain anonymous. "He (Calvin) comes across as being bitter, and quite frankly billionaires have no reason to be bitter. This is something that needs to be handled by attorneys in private, not on some personal CEO blog that links to stale three day old second hand news from irrelevant Danish gambling news portals that wouldn't know an original story if it hit them over the head."

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