Whoa NELLY -- Ken Block not happy

[spalind]

why this is in Rally-Raid is what I wanna know...

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[Offspring]

why this is in Rally-Raid is what I wanna know...

Easy, to bury it. Both sides are/have major players around here.

[Rizzo]

First, the Mint 400 and now this. Do these guys want to be race promoters, video producers, rally organizers, T-shirt salesmen, program publishers??? Do one thing and do it well. Sure seems like fame and fortune top the to do list no matter who or what industry they cross. Motorsports in general is a small, tight community and word travels fast. Your reputation is all you have.

[crazyeye]

Kens a billionaire, he can afford to let mad media have gymkhana.com

[Dirty Harry]

First, the Mint 400 and now this. Do these guys want to be race promoters, video producers, rally organizers, T-shirt salesmen, program publishers??? Do one thing and do it well.

Actually Mad Media does all of those things exceptionally well. Did you GO to the Mint 400 this year? It was rad! Have you SEEN Gymkhana 1 and 2? Also rad, also Mad Media.

[klaus]

In reality it comes down to that Ken Block failed to secure a domain name that was available while others did and when he realized he was too late he tries in panic mode to get the name gymkhana.com handed to him.

He or DC Shoes owns a trademark for gymkhana apparel (85231617). There are other gymkhana trademark owners for various other applications. However the term gymkhana can not be trademarked in relation to the activity of gymkhana. Maybe not a well know fact but it is a motorsports discipline just like the term "football" describes an activity and not a brand. I am sure the NFL would love to own football.com but they don't (http://whois.domaintools.com/football.com).

Another example is apple. When it comes to a food product it can not be trademarked but when it comes to computers or a record label it can and they can both coexist.

Ken Block borrowed the term for his uses hence his videos are called "Ken Block's gymkhana part x" Its like saying Ken plays football and then when someone uses football.com trying to sue them to get it because Ken is a known football player. Does't sound right and neither does this lawsuit.

The actual lawsuit against MadMedia is to challenge gymkhana.com but not on grounds of a trademark violation since that would not make sense but rather on a breach of contract. Lets see how this all plays out in a court of law. In the meantime all this rumbling adds more traffic to http://www.gymkhana.com Go check it out.

[hotdogwater]

In reality it comes down to that Ken Block failed to secure a domain name that was available while others did and when he realized he was too late he tries in panic mode to get the name gymkhana.com handed to him.
....

The actual lawsuit against MadMedia is to challenge gymkhana.com but not on grounds of a trademark violation since that would not make sense but rather on a breach of contract. Lets see how this all plays out in a court of law. In the meantime all this rumbling adds more traffic to http://www.gymkhana.com Go check it out.

In the meantime all this rumbling adds more dollars to lawyers pockets.

There I fixed it for you.

[ibismojo]

Someone was actually "making" money from gymkhana videos? Huh...