Mcle Self-study Article

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal
• Citation: Vol. 45 No. 3
• Publication year: 2020
• Author: Thomas A. Ward
• topic: Trademark,Criminal Law,Copyright law,Civil Procedure

MCLE Self-Study Article

Thomas A. Ward

CommScope

TIGER KING TAKEDOWN—HOW TRADEMARK AND COPYRIGHT LAWSUITS GOT THE JOB DONE

(See end of this article for information on receiving 1.0 hour MCLE self-study credit. )

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The Netflix series Tiger King is an eight-part documentary series about competing zoos with tigers, lions, and other exotic animals. Many quarantined California IP lawyers have likely seen the series, as it was bingewatched by over thirty-four million viewers within the first ten days of its release, and IP lawyers were probably surprised by the focus of the series around the effects of trademark and copyright lawsuits.¹

The series chronicles a feud between zoo owners Joe Exotic (aka Joe Schriebvogel, aka Joe Moldonado-Passage), who was dubbed the "Tiger King" and who owns the zoo named the "Greater Wynnewood (GW) Exotic Animal Memorial Park" (formerly known as Garold Wayne Zoo) in Oklahoma, and Carole Baskins founder of "Big Cat Rescue" which has a zoo in Florida that Carole deems to be a sanctuary for big cats. For twenty years, Joe Exotic bred tigers and used the tiger cubs in petting zoo exhibits in malls and other locations across the country. He used a tour bus and equipment to do the petting exhibits and also did shows at his zoo in Oklahoma. With his business skills that are chronicled in the show, including his tiger cub petting tours and zoo shows, he was able to house and feed hundreds of tigers and pay a staff of zookeepers.

However, Joe Exotic's practice of breeding tigers and using the cubs to make money drew the ire of Carole Baskin and other animal rights activists. The Netflix series shows the steps Carole took to prevent Joe Exotic from continuing to breed big cats, including lobbying Congress to pass laws that would prevent breeding and ownership of tigers. Carole also brought charges of animal abuse and encouraged malls and other locations where Joe Exotic held tiger cub petting exhibitions to cancel his exhibitions.

Joe Exotic, of course, sought revenge against Carole Baskin for her actions. First, Joe Exotic created an ad featuring the "BIG CAT RESCUE ENTERTAINMENT" mark shown on the cover of this issue of New Matter with a photo of a snow leopard's eyes. Joe Exotic allegedly used the BIG CAT RESCUE ENTERTAINMENT mark to try to divert Google traffic to his sites rather than those of Big Cat Rescue owned by Carol Baskin. A Facebook post created by a user named "Joe Exotic" stated, "If you must know, I registered Big Cat Rescue Entertainment and leased the name out so you could ruin BCR on Google all by yourself, and it is working. LOL." Another "Joe Exotic" post referred to Carole Baskin's Big Cat Rescue as "[m]y new company LOL." Joe Exotic attributed both posts to hackers.² Further, Joe Exotic obtained a photograph of Carole Baskin feeding white rabbits covered in blood to her tigers and posted the photo on Facebook with messages indicating that Carole was cruel to animals.³

These acts of revenge lead to Joe Exotic's downfall. After trying to shut down Joe Exotic for years, it was the use of Baskin's trademark and copyright rights that was the beginning of the end for the Tiger King. In 2005, before Joe Exotic began using the Big Cat Rescue Entertainment mark, Carole Baskin registered the mark BIG CAT RESCUE for charitable fundraising services, animal rescue services, and entertainment services such as animal exhibition.⁴ Further, as Joe Exotic chronicles in the Netflix series, Carole Baskin located the photographer who made the photos of her with the bloody white rabbits and purchased the copyright to the photos for a minimal sum of twenty dollars.

Trademark Lawsuit

In 2011, Big Cat Rescue filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Florida against Joe Exotic, alleging infringement of its mark BIG CAT RESCUE by Joe Exotic's adoption of the trademark "BIG CAT RESCUE ENTERTAINMENT" that is shown as the cover art on this issue of New Matter. The complaint also alleged that Joe...