Bodog Followup

As you know, I recently detailed how the antics of Calvin Ayre's Bodog machine managed to have a news piece of mine removed from another location on the web. I've done more digging into the backstory of the Bluemoon/Bodog/Fox Sports Net legal situation, and I'd like to do some connect-the-dots commentary here, to explain what it is about the developments in the case that seems to have angered the Bodog camp and put them on the defensive.

As reported over at PokerBiz411 and other sources, the addition of Fox Sports Net as a second defendant in BlueMoon's amended complaint seems to have added a twist to the situation not fully explained elsewhere, at least in layman's terms. If I interpret the meaning of the "joint and several liability" clause as it's described in these other pieces --- and I Am Not A Lawyer, so take this as my opinion, and nothing else --- it seems that if a judgment was granted in favor of Bluemoon, then Bluemoon could (after appeals ad infinitum, of course) collect the judgment in its entirety from Fox Sports Net and leave it up to FSN to try to collect Bodog's share of the judgment from Bodog in turn.

Of course, Bodog is offshore, so they still wouldn't have to pay off the judgment as decreed in an American court. Would this leave Fox Sports Net holding the bag? That's the possibility.

Now ask yourselves this: Would Fox Sports Net (or any other network), thus having been burnt by Bodog, then be willing to run more programming that promotes Bodog's interests?

That's my read on it --- Bodog turns out to be not quite as immune to the U.S system as they think. Bodog may be in Costa Rica, but their success is dependent upon being able to aggressively market the United States. Should Bodog's planned publicity and marketing avenues be closed off to them, then it's a far harsher slap of finanacial reality.

One of the things I picked up on as I researched the Bluemoon complaints is that Bluemoon seems to assert that entire passages of text --- as excerpted from Bodog's marketing materials for the "Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker" show, were lifted virtually verbatim from Bluemoon's proposal and pre-production materials. I don't say aye or nay; I merely note that if such is indeed the case, then the combination of laziness/stupidity by the Bodog person or people who didn't bother to check for the original source is... well... astounding. Let's not call it laziness or stupidity. Let's just chalk it up to chutzpah, as we consider the source.