Bodog Battles to Beat Lawsuit, Keep SERPs - Bodog Gets Busy
(Page 2 of 4 )
Not surprisingly, 1st Technology went right to Bodog’s U.S.-based registrar and told them to shut down the disputed domains. Near the end of August, Bodog.com went black. But Ayres didn’t get to where he is today without knowing how to fight.
In roughly 12 hours, Bodog was back in operation on NewBodog.com – all 90,000 pages of it. If you think this must have been an SEO nightmare for the company, you’re probably right. While all the appropriate redirects went into place, Bodog had some highly coveted positions in Google with some generic keywords that are enough to make a hardcore gambler’s eyes water. Rob Garner writing for Search Insider noted that as of August 20, Bodog.com held the number one spot in Google for “poker game.” And as of August 16, it held the number one spots for “casino sport book” and “college football gambling.”
That last keyword brings up another issue: from Bodog’s point of view, 1st Technology’s timing could hardly be any worse. The beginning of September is the busiest time for North American sports-related gambling, thanks to the start of the American football season. Along with casino-style gambling, Bodog offers online sports betting – indeed, to judge from the company’s description in Google and the layout of its web site, the sports betting is at least as important as the casino.
Fortunately, Bodog was able to redirect all regular customers from bodog.com to NewBodog.com, apparently with very little hassle. You’d think 1st Technology would be upset enough about this to sue for trademark infringement – after all, it now owned Bodog, right? Wrong. They might want to sue, but they couldn’t. Calvin Ayres had registered Bodog as his company’s trademark quite some time ago; handing over the domain isn’t the same thing as handing over the trademark or even the brand. As Ayres explained in his blog, “A domain is just a doorway to your business. As long as our domain has Bodog in it we are still Bodog. This was a forced domain change only.”
Ayres also created significant buzz around the domain name change. Less than two weeks after the change, he made an entry in his blog (now removed) that rather thoroughly flamed 1st Technology, calling them “patent trolls.” He also revealed in a press release that he had signed a brand licensing agreement with “Morris Mohawk Gaming Group” for operations and marketing of gaming in North America. While industry insiders wondered whether such a group even exists, the name gave Ayres all the ammunition he needed to talk smack. He pointed out that the Mohawks “aren’t exactly known for backing down from a fight…and they don’t take kindly to folks who try to steal from them.” He uses even stronger language later in his post.
Next: Yet Another Move >>
More Website Marketing Articles
More By Terri Wells
/ 5 
