Denver CO, January 11, 2006: The Ultimate Fighting Championship and its ownership company Zuffa LLC, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Worldwide Fighting Championship for using the words fighting, and championship, within its name. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday, January 11, 2006 stating that the use of the terms fighting, and championship, is a violation of copyright law and somehow misleads fans into thinking that the two promotion companies are somehow related. In addition to the suit, Zuffa LLC, is moving to stop the WFC from using its name as well as stopping the event Rumble in the Rockies, slated for January 21, 2006 at the Budweiser Events Center. The WFC feels that the verb fighting, and the noun championship, is a generic term used to describe the type of sports event being produced. The term Fighting Championship, is the MMA industrys equivalent to the term Operating System, or OS, used in the technology industry. Many different companies such as Microsoft Windows XP, and Macintosh OS 10, are companies that use and rely on the term to provide consumers with a description of the service provided.The unprecedented lawsuit by Zuffa LLC, has far reaching ramifications, and poses the question of whether the UFC will now file against MMA companies like the Japanese super-promotion PRIDE Fighting Championship for the same reason.
