Australia's XSport Games trademark loses court battle vs ESPN
Andrew Thomas, owner of the "XSport Games" trademark, lost his infringement case launched by media giant ESPN Inc against him and is now prohibited from organising and staging the sports spectacle anytime soon.
The sports channel ESPN, owned by Walt Disney Co. ESPN got the favourable ruling of a Sydney Federal Court that Thomas indeed violated and infringed the trademark "the XGames" popularized by the network world-wide.
Judge Jayne Jagot in Sydney ruled that the Thomas has knowingly used the name and is therefore, guilty of infringement of ESPN's "X Games" trademark.
Bloomberg News reported that The XSport Games was scheduled on Nov.13 and 14 at the Sydney Showgrounds and was branded "Australia's biggest action sports festival," featuring freestyle BMX, skateboarding and rough riding, with organizers promising to broadcast the event to more than 100 countries, according to BMX website.
ESPN's The X Games, on the other hand, also features sports such as skateboarding and motorcycle jumping, aimed at an audience under 30 years of age held at different venues around the world. Its last X Games was on July 29 to Aug. 1 in Los Angeles.
Meantime, Thomas, through his lawyers, has declared that he has not done anything wrong all throughout the hearing of the case.
"I do not believe that I have done anything wrong and I do not admit any fault," Thomas wrote ESPN's lawyers in an e-mail that was cited by the judge. Thomas didn't appear in court and asked ESPN's lawyers to show the e-mail to the judge.