CBR: Hobby Star Takes Legal Action Over "Fan Expo" Name

[CBR News]

The owners of the pop culture show "Toronto Fan Expo" have filed an injunction against the owners of the UFC fighting league and Reed Exhibitions over their use of the name "UFC Fan Expo" this weekend in Canada.


Full article here.

[Chris N]

"fan expo" sounds generic enough to me.

But I'll wait for Royal to weigh in.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Dana White is not happy !

[Brian Garside]

Wow, Hobbystar is really punching above their weight here.

I would wager this will get tossed UFC has been using this name since 2005 when I saw them in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand for the day before the fights. It's only recently that the Fan Expos have garnered mainstream attention.

[Paladin King]

Taking on Dana White? Good luck with that.

Lots of ways the UFC can deflect this, imo.

-just how generic "fan expo" is
-the fact that they slapped UFC in front of "fan expo"
-the fact that they've been doing this since 2005
-the fact that the UFC fan expo travels from city to city in the US and, now, Canada

[jediracer]

It's about time someone stood up to Reed Exhibitions. They are bullies and jerks!

[Sean Walsh]

This will probably get tossed - "Fan Expo" seems rather generic, and I dunno if they can claim copyright/ownership over that phrase - but I don't think it's as clear cut as some might think...

IIRC, these folks used to run several smaller and more genre-specific fan expos under the larger Fan Expo banner of the city they were in (mainly Toronto, but I believe they did a show in Boston several years back). So each Toronto Fan Expo had a smaller Sci-Fi Expo, and Comic Expo, and so on at each convention. I dunno if they still do this, but one (not quite paying attention) could maybe think UFC would be one of those associated expos too. That could be a wrinkle.

[SeanEC]

The owners of the pop culture show "Toronto Fan Expo" have filed an injunction against the owners of the UFC fighting league and Reed Exhibitions over their use of the name "UFC Fan Expo" this weekend in Canada.


Full article here.

Is Toronto Fan Expo a similar event to Fan Expo Canada? Or just sloppy reporting/editing as the image used clearly shows Fan Expo Canada?

[DEWLine]

Considering that Hobbystar's been operating in Toronto since not quite forever but pretty damn close to it...?

UFC may have earned a problem here.

[The Black Guardian]

Fan Expo Canada is a pretty lousy name to begin with. It sounds more like a Nationalist convention than a nerd fest. Plus, it's like calling your convention "The Convention." A convention's name should be more descriptive of its theme.

Hey, Hobby Star, there's also a KISS Fan Expo. Maybe you can sue them too. Chicago's got a Bears Fan Expo.

[StoneGold]

And then there's the one thing everyone's forgetting -- it's Canada. So the Bears Fan Expo thing doesn't matter at all, because it's not Canada. And, no offense to Cronin, but I'm doubting his legal expertise includes that of foreign country. If Hobbystar owned the Canadian trademarks, you think the Canadian courts are going to care about the American use of the term?

Might not help in shutting down the website, as it's probably registered in the US. But it could stop them from using the term in the advertising in Canada.

Or not, because like everyone else here, I HAVE NO FRIGGIN' CLUE! Seriously, any Canadian legal experts in the house? Apart from the website, it's not even international law, it's UFC coming into Canada that started this.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

And then there's the one thing everyone's forgetting -- it's Canada. So the Bears Fan Expo thing doesn't matter at all, because it's not Canada. And, no offense to Cronin, but I'm doubting his legal expertise includes that of foreign country. If Hobbystar owned the Canadian trademarks, you think the Canadian courts are going to care about the American use of the term?

Might not help in shutting down the website, as it's probably registered in the US. But it could stop them from using the term in the advertising in Canada.

Or not, because like everyone else here, I HAVE NO FRIGGIN' CLUE! Seriously, any Canadian legal experts in the house? Apart from the website, it's not even international law, it's UFC coming into Canada that started this.

Ok the only real thing I can think of that comes close to this in some way is the WWF vs WWF case. In that Vince McMahon had a sort of agreement with the World Wildlife Fund regarding the use of the initials W.W.F internationally. This agreement was in 1994 , but in 2000 the World Wildlife Fund took the WWF into court over it.

Vince changed the company's name to WWE to get around that . The WWF however kept pushing and wanted damages . But the court threw it out and Vince basically had to back down and change the name.

Thats the closest thing I can think of what this case compares to.

[DonC]

I think the problem here isn't the name "Fan Expo" but the fact that it's in Toronto. It's not a perfect anaolgy, but imagine trying to hold a comic con in San Diego with the name Coast City Comic Con.

[StoneGold]

I think the problem here isn't the name "Fan Expo" but the fact that it's in Toronto. It's not a perfect anaolgy, but imagine trying to hold a comic con in San Diego with the name Coast City Comic Con.

That you could probably get away with, if only because CCI never defended their right to the name well. But again, it's Canada, for all we know (and again, I doubt any of us have done the research), no one else has used the terminology "fan expo" in Canada. It's a common phrase in the States, but that doesn't mean that someone else doesn't own the rights to the name in other territories.


Or, once again, we don't know squat.

[StoneGold]

Ok the only real thing I can think of that comes close to this in some way is the WWF vs WWF case. In that Vince McMahon had a sort of agreement with the World Wildlife Fund regarding the use of the initials W.W.F internationally. This agreement was in 1994 , but in 2000 the World Wildlife Fund took the WWF into court over it.

Vince changed the company's name to WWE to get around that . The WWF however kept pushing and wanted damages . But the court threw it out and Vince basically had to back down and change the name.

Thats the closest thing I can think of what this case compares to.

Although that was because Vince was violating a deal he had with the WWF.