CA-based Livecast, a company that "helps clients
produce audio broadcasts on the Internet," filed suit asking
that CNN/SI cease using the term "livecast" on its Web site,
according to Rick Westhead of BLOOMBERG NEWS. The NFL and
NFLE are also named in the suit. Livecast asked for
unspecified damages in the trademark infringement suit filed
in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of CA.
Livecast CEO Chris Andrews said that he trademarked the name
in '98, a year before founding the company. Andrews: "I
wouldn't call it cut and dry because it's the Internet and
there are always a lot of new issues. But we have two years
prior usage and they've never claimed we don't have
ownership of the name" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 7/25).
COCHRAN'S WEB INVESTMENT: The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's
Noah Liberman reports that AthleteNow.com has struck a deal
with Johnnie Cochran's sports marketing and rep firm,
Cochran Sports & Entertainment, that gives Cochran "a
minority equity stake in AthleteNow.com in return for seven
figures' worth of marketing and legal consulting." Liberman
notes the deal "is in line with AthleteNow.com's new
emphasis on the production of athlete-based Web content for
other sites and sponsors" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/24).
NOTES: TENNIS WEEK's Richard Pagliaro reviews sports
Web sites' coverage of Wimbledon and notes that MSNBC
Sports' www.wimbledon.msnbc.com "offered the best video view
of the event on the Internet." Pagliaro: "If you watched
NBC's daily coverage, this site might look a little
redundant, but the content was compelling and well worth
viewing." Of the unofficial sites, CNN/SI's site "was the
most consistently informative" (TENNIS WEEK, 7/20 issue).
...USA TODAY's Oscar Dixon reports that the WNBA's online
auction held July 10-21 raised more than $45,000 for the
National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations. Fans made
more than 2,700 bids on 90 items, including $9,070 for two
passes to a Christina Aguilera concert (USA TODAY, 7/26).
