After a brilliant legal victory last year by attorneys at Winston & Strawn LLP against Zavala and Hoopology.com, Chris Bosh’s nickname went from “CB4” to “cyber-hero” to many loyal fans and those in the Internet community. If you do not remember the lawsuit or the previous post on SportsAgentBlog.com, here is a quick review.
On September 24, 2009, NBA All-Star and Olympic gold medalist, Chris Bosh, and the attorneys at Winston & Straw LLP defeated cybersquatters who had created domain names for over 800 athletes and entertainers in an attempt to profit from related advertising. In an unprecedented move, the court awarded Bosh and his attorneys not only custody to chrisbosh.com, but further awarded the Raptors forward custody to all other third-party domain names owned by the defendants. According to Bosh’s lawyer Brian Heidelberger, this was the first time a plaintiff has convinced the court to award third-party domain names directly to the plaintiff. In doing so, Bosh has stated that he has custody of the domain names with the sole intention of giving them back to the athlete or celebrity the site belongs to, free of charge. However, that has proven to be trickier than anyone could have expected.
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE
Since he was awarded custody of the third-party names, less than thirty domain names have been claimed, leaving 777 still in the possession of Bosh and his attorneys. Mr. Heidelberger made an announcement at the 36th Annual Sports Lawyers Association (SLA) conference May 19-22 asking others to help allocate the remaining domain names to the appropriate athletes and individuals.
If you are an athlete, celebrity, agent, or work with any of the following, please view the list of third-party domain names to see if you or anyone you know has a domain name that is currently in the custody of Bosh and his attorneys.
If the domains are not claimed within a certain amount of time, they will fall back into the public domain and may fall to cybersquatters yet again. Act now, on this limited time offer. Only the athlete or entertainer can sign the appropriate form and retain custody of the domain name. Please contact Brian Heidelberger (bheidelberger@winston.com) if you would like to claim a domain name or have any questions relating to this lawsuit.
One reply on “Limited Time Offer From Chris Bosh”
I feel like it would be a lot easier if the NBA/the NBA teams/or the NBPA handled this…