BCCI Gets Restraining Order Against Online Fantasy Cricket League, Rediff; Why Rediff?
By Nikhil Pahwa - Wed 28 May 2008 05:32 AM PST
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has got an interim injunction from the Madras High Court, restraining Sandeep Goel (of the Indian Fantasy League) and Rediff.com from displaying or using the domain name/title indianfantasyleague.com or indianfantasyleague and logo or any other domain name or trademark similar to that of the Indian Premier League, reports the Hindu. The BCCI has sought damages of Rs. 10 lakh.
Readers will remember that contentSutra had reported earlier about the BCCI and Multi Screen Media (SET) planning a fantasy league in India. Looks like they forgot to register the domain - which was registered by Sandeep Goel for the IFL. I was under the impression that the Indian Fantasy League being developed by “a Canadian company” had referred to the facebook based game from LiveCurrent Media. The Indian Fantasy League against which the petition was filed has already attracted sponsorship from Airtel and ColorPlus, and prizes on offer include 5 Ford Fiesta cars, 10 Videocon TVs, Panasonic ACs, Acer Laptops and Desktops etc. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when the case comes up for hearing next on June 10th.
But why is Rediff to blame? They appear to have been unnecessarily caught up in this controversy - we’ve received a clarification from them stating that they merely provided domain registration services as a part of Rediff Business Solutions, and have no control over the domains registered or allocated - that lies with the Central Registrar. They’ll be filing a response regarding this case, and believe (I think rightly so) that they can’t be held liable for a case essentially against Sandeep Goel for indianfantasyleague.com. At the same time, wire agency PTI appears to have added to the confusion - their report claims that Sandeep Goel is the owner of Rediff.com (NSDQ: REDF).
