On Feb 14, Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson filed a lawsuit against Matt Lindland and his company, Team Quest Fight Club, LLC alleging:
trademark infringement:
copyright infringement: and,
unfair competition.
According to Henderson's complaint:
He and Randy Couture had the art work designed in 1999.
He and Couture copyrighted the artwork;
Henderson used the Team Quest name and “fist” logo ever since,:
Thus Henderson is the “senior user” of the marks.
However, no one registered the Team Quest name and logo with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) until Lindland.
Lindland’s main argument is that not only was he the first one to truly use the “Team Quest” logo and name ¬as part of a business in the U.S., he was the first and only one to take it to the USPTO -- and Henderson knew it for years before he ever protested.
Lindland alleges that in 2000 Henderson and Couture were closing down their “Performance Quest” gym, and that despite Henderson’s move to Southern California, the three decided to keep assisting each other in preparing for their MMA fights, dubbing themselves “Team Quest.”
Lindland claims that in 2001 he decided to start his “Team Quest Wrestling” program for children, followed that same year by the Team Quest Fight Club MMA gym, owned by him, Couture, and trainer Robert Follis. At some point, Couture and Follis both allegedly ended up transferring and/or selling off their interests in TQFC to Lindland.
Lindland believes that even if the court places great weight on use of the marks before any of the USPTO registrations, Couture’s longstanding interest was transferred to Lindland, and he thus gets to “stand in his shoes” as if he were Couture himself, cutting against Henderson’s argument that he and Couture are the most senior users.
Lindland's countersuit asks the court to make Henderson permanently refrain from using the Team Quest marks, immediately destroy or retract all of his Team Quest materials, issue “corrective advertising” and press releases addressing the “confusion” among Team Quest marks, and also pay TQFC all profits he made from improperly using the marks. Furthermore, Lindland wants the court to award him millions in damages plus attorneys’ fees and costs of the lawsuit.
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