| 26 Sep | Had A Bad Beat? Sue Someone!Posted by PokerBarney on 11:18AM, 26th Sep 2006Permalink |  Send to a friend |  RSS feed |
Had a bad beat? Why not sue someone? Everyone else is...
Shana Hiatt sues WPT
Shana Hiatt is undoubtedly one of the hottest poker presenters around. She's gorgeous, natural in front of the camera and can make interviews with even the most dull players exciting. Unfortunately, we haven't seen her on our screens since Spring 2005 when she left WPT claiming that her colleages had created a "hostile working environment" by spreading rumours about her.
Well now she's back. And trying to get a job with NBC, until WPT's CEO Steve Lipscomb stepped in and contacted NBC on her behalf, stating that she was still under an anti-competition contract and so was not legally allowed to work for direct competitors to the WPT.
Shana has filed her complaint (to be heard on October 17th this year) stating that a) she never signed such a waiver, and b) her contractual obligations to the WPT expired on September 11th 2006, so she should be free to do as she pleases in her career. She is seeking an injunctive order and damages. Fingers crossed that Shana gets what she deserves, and she deserves her freedom (and some more money, of course :).
Top pros sue WPT
This isn't the first time that the WPT has been on the receiving end however. Back in July of this year they were sued by 7 very high profile players, including Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Howard Lederer, Joe Hachem (2005 WSOP ME champion), Greg Raymer (2004 WSOP ME champion), Phil Gordon, and Annie Duke. They alleged that the WPT and its partner casinos have unlawfully conspired to eliminate competition, and violated the intellectual property rights of these players.
The issue is that the WPT force players to sign a waiver releasing all rights to the player's image, likeness and name for use in promotional purposes. "This is the anti-trust equivalent of identity theft" noted Jeffrey Kessler, lead attorney on the case. The suit is looking to remove such contracts from the WPT, or at least have them made more suitable and agreeable to all.
Damn straight too. The WPT is taking advantage of the fact that poker is an emerging industry, and is using anti-competitive tactics to secure itself as a major player. Microsoft didn't get away with it, and they shouldn't either.
Harrah's sues former employee
Well, now Harrah's casino is getting involved in the sueing game too.
In 2004, Harrah's casino bought out Binion's (the original home of the WSOP), and so acquired the tournament as well. Since then, they have pursued an aggressive marketing campaign to build the tournament into the success and brand that it is today. There's only one thing left - "wsop.com".
A former employee of the casino, Federico Schiavio, directed the IT department at the HorseShoe and bought the domain a year before Harrah's takeover, and current uses the website for something entirely unrelated to the WSOP. The suit claims he is unfairly profiting from Harrah's brand, and demands that ownership of the domain be transferred to them, as well as damages.
This sort of thing happens a fair bit online - someone will buy a domain name, then sit on it ("cyber-squatting") until a buyer comes along. They then charge exorbitant prices and are usually sued. In many recent cases, if the owner can be proved to have no reason for wanting the domain other than to resell it at a high price, transferrance of ownership is normally forced. Thank god. I hate squatters.
Time will tell if it will happen in this case.. Federico IS using the domain for a real purpose, and has been doing so for many years. Is it fair and ethical to take it away just because a big company wants it? I don't think so. I remember a case a few years back of Jaguar (the car company) sueing a little girl because she had a website about jaguars (the big cats). They won. The little girl cried. It wasn't fair.
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