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30/07/10 - UFC sues Bellator, Ken Pavia for industrial espionage
MMA agent Ken Pavia has been hit with a lawsuit by Zuffa Llc, parent company of the UFC and WEC, alleging that he has passed confidential documents and other trade secrets on to Bellator FC, a rival mixed martial arts promotion.
The news was broken by Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports. His article states that Pavia and Bellator FC are co-defendants in the lawsuit and are accused, in documents filed Wednesday in Clark County District Court, of “improper” use of Zuffa LLC operations documents.
According to the court documents, “the improper disclosure of Zuffa’s operations documents and confidential information by Pavia, MMA Agents… constitutes a distinct act of dominion wrongfully exerted over Zuffa’s personal property.
“The improper use by Bellator of Zuffa’s operational documents and confidential information in order to conduct its competing business operations constitutes a distinct act of dominion wrongfully exerted over Zuffa’s personal property.”
Zuffa is seeking damages, both actual and punitive damages, plus a permanent injunction against Pavia or Bellator FC using any Zuffa assets or intellectual property. Zuffa LLC will also be seeking full payment of its legal costs if the court finds against either or both defendants.
Fighters Only contacted Pavia today asking for a statement. In an email reply, he declined to comment until such time as he has “a better understanding of the situation”. Efforts to contact Bellator FC promoter Bjorn Rebney have thus far been unsuccessful.
Some of the documents filed in court include emails allegedly sent to Pavia by Rebney. An extract from one reads, “You’ve been great about sending us ‘All’ of the seminal docs from the UFC, so that we can re-do them and implement them for Bellator.
“Please list each in terms of what it is for and how the UFC uses them/implements them. … Then I’m going to have our team Monday re-type them and we will sufficiently alter them such that they will appear to be ours and not theirs.”
If the email is genuine, it will cripple Bellator’s legal defence, who will find it difficult to spin an alternate meaning from such explicit wording. More news as the case develops.
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