Calvin Hires the Mohawks to See off Bodog "Patent Trolls"

Flamboyant Bodog founder Calvin Ayre has launched an amusing intraweb-style attack on the man and company he believes have stolen his Bodog domain names.

Complete with a popular black and white photo (often used on internet forums) of two gentlemen appearing to be suffering the effects of inbreeding, and music (Dueling Banjos) from the film Deliverance, Calvin Ayre's blog entry pays a humorous tribute to online forum battles with 'trolls'.

A Bodog press release this week had industry players scratching their heads. The release announced that Bodog had signed a brand licensing agreement with Morris Mohawk Gaming Group for operations and marketing of gaming in North America. The agreement would include the use of all Bodog domains and the Bodog trademark.

This agreement was obviously a response to the loss of all Bodog's previous domain names to a company called 1st Technology, which claims the downloadable gambling software used by Bodog violates patents held by the company. For reasons unknown, Bodog didn't respond to the suit filed by 1st Technology in a Nevada court and, as a result, a default judgement was issued against Bodog ordering the registrar of the company's domain names to remove all name servers associated with Bodog and Calvin Ayre, rendering the domains unusable. In addition, Bodog was ordered to pay $49 million in damages.

How exactly the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group fits into this picture is somewhat unclear, however Calvin Ayre seems to think they can handle the fight more effectively than his company can, and Calvin Ayre is a decidedly savvy CEO.

The language used in Ayre's blog attack on 1st Technology is strong, and may be taken in the wrong context by those who have not been exposed to online 'flaming' wars. Ayre says the Mohawks "aren't exactly known for backing down from a fight…and they don't take kindly to folks who try to steal from them". He goes on to speculate that 1st Technology CEO Scott W. Lewis would not be thrilled about the prospect of "going head to head with…a Mohawk whose ancestors scalped 56 Americans during the Battle of Beaver Dams".

Ayre labels 1st Technology as nothing more than "Patent Trolls", a term used to describe a person or company that enforces its patents against alleged infringers in a manner considered unduly aggressive or opportunistic (WordSpy.com) complete with a cartoon of a troll with the heading "The North American Patent Troll: Also known as a bottom feeder. You can usually find this creature sucking the bone marrow out of young children."

The Bodog v 1st Technology battle was interesting enough to begin with, but Ayre has now dialed up the rhetoric and raring for a fight – we will keep you updated with progress in what is sure to be an interesting and amusing ride from here on in.

Bodog has already relaunched their range of gaming and entertainment sites on new domain names and in the words of Ayre, the Bodog empire is going "full speed ahead!"

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