STRIKE TWO! Big Canoe Trademark Goes 0-for-2 in One Week

Earlier this week FOBC reported that the Big Canoe POA’s first attempt to enforce its very expensive new Trademark empire ended with the lawsuit DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.
[Link to Previous Article]

Well…

Apparently One Strike wasn’t enough.

FOBC has now obtained an August 24 decision from the National Arbitration Forum involving another Big Canoe POA trademark challenge — this time an attempt to take control of BigCanoeMoney.com from Big Canoe Property Owner, J Cornelius.
(Mr. Cornelius uses the site to analyze Big Canoe Financials.)

The Big Canoe POA Lost! Again!

[Link to National Arbitration Forum Decision]

The POA wanted the Arbitration Forum to order the domain transferred to the POA.

It alleged, among other things, inaccurate financial information, improper access to confidential information, violations of POA Terms of Use, bypassing security measures, disruption of POA business, consumer confusion and bad faith.

That’s quite a list.

There was just one little problem.

They apparently forgot the evidence.

The Arbitration Panel found that, beyond establishing ownership of its trademarks, the POA’s Complaint consisted largely of unsupported allegations.

• No supporting declarations.
• No copy of the alleged Terms of Use.
• No evidence of unauthorized access.
• No evidence proving the alleged inaccuracies.
• No evidence of actual consumer confusion.
• No evidence of commercial gain.

In other words, after spending hundreds of thousands of Property Owner dollars building this Trademark machine, somebody apparently forgot one of the more basic rules of filing a case:

If you’re going to accuse somebody of a bunch of stuff… bring the evidence.

The Panel even had to explain that it wasn’t their job to go find the evidence for the POA. A complainant, the decision states, must essentially stand or fall on the record it chooses to submit.

Big Canoe POA chose its record.

It fell.

The Complaint was DENIED, and BigCanoeMoney.com remains with its owner.

So within the same week we now have:

Strike One: The POA’s trademark lawsuit against Margot Weatherford ends in dismissal.

Strike Two: The POA’s attempt to take BigCanoeMoney.com gets DENIED.

For a Trademark program Property Owners have already poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into, this is becoming quite a return on investment.

Maybe somebody should have figured out how trademark enforcement actually works before spending all our money on it.

⚾ STRIKE TWO!

— FOBC Editor