A Mixed Martial Arts Promotion By Any Other Name...
In July, I blogged about the Ultimate Cage Fighting Challenge's possible infringement of the UFC's trademark and predicted that when the UCFC's website resurfaced it would be under a new name. From the new version of the website it appears that the UCFC is now the XCFC (Xtreme Cage Fighting Challenge).
The XCFC homepage discusses a September 19 event, but the XCFC Facebook event page indicates that the event was moved to November 13, 2009. The name of the organization and the event name (The Backyard Battle) remained the same, so intellectual property issues do not appear to have played any role in the postponement.
There is already an XCC (Xtreme Cagefighting Championship) based in Michigan, but they are less likely to make a trademark claim than the UFC. Trademark laws are governed by both federal and state law. (State trademarks can usually be obtained quickly and easily, but provide less protection than federal marks.) Since the UFC has a federal trademark, it can prevent any confusingly similar uses anywhere in the country. In the absence of a federal trademark, a promotion can typically only go after competitors in its own state (absent certain circumstances that would still provide for cross-border confusion.)
It remains to be seen whether the XCF (based in Missouri) which does have a federal trademark for "XCF Xtreme Cagefighting Federation") will make a claim against the XCFC or XCC.
The bottom line here is that trademark law is murky and any promotion looking to protect its brand (or avoid stepping on the toes of someone else) should seek professional guidance.
