Westgate Sends Cease and Desist to Barstool Over Copyright Issue

• Popular Las Vegas sportsbook Westgate SuperBook has sent two cease and desist letters to Barstool Sports for copyright infringement.
• Westgate alleges Barstool’s use of the term “good teams win, great teams cover” violates a trademark.
• Westgate trademarked the phrase in 2012.

LAS VEGAS – Popular sportsbook Barstool Sports seems to be having potential legal problems brewing after a cease and desist letter is sent from Westgate SuperBook sportsbook in Las Vegas.

This is actually the second letter Barstool has received from Westgate, with Westgate alleging Barstool is infringing upon a copyright filed back in 2012.

Barstool’s founder Dave Portnoy has publicly addressed the letters, attributing it as other gambling companies being threatened by the potential of Barstool Sports. This could turn into a lawsuit between the operators.

The root of the issue is the phrase “good teams win, great teams cover” that was trademarked by Westgate Las Vegas Resort LLC in 2012 after applying for the trademark in 2009.

Barstool argues that it is a common phrase among the legal sports betting world and common phrases shouldn’t be able to be copyrighted.

While it is true that common phrases are constantly denied the ability to be trademarked, Westgate argues that the term was not common when they filed and was granted the copyright.

While no official lawsuit has been filed as of yet, this could be the direction Westgate is headed as they have already sent two cease and desist letters to Barstool Sports.

Another possibility is that the Barstool decides to stop using the phrase to avoid copyright infringement and the entire issue goes away.

While two titans of the industry going at it in court over a trademark lawsuit isn’t a farfetched possibility, both parties would potentially want to settle things without expensive court proceedings.

Westgate SuperBook is one of the more well-known sports betting operations in Nevada and is a primary staple in the Las Vegas area.

Barstool Sportsbook has not yet launched an operation in Vegas, being only available in Pennsylvania and Michigan at this time but has already become a well-known entity in the legal sports betting world.

Sports betting fans will have to wait and see how things escalate between the operators.

News tags: Barstool | Barstool Sports | Dave Portnoy | Eric Schippers | Greenspoon Marder | Westgate | Westgate Vegas