Yahoo Sport’s Kevin Iole is reporting that Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the UFC, is taking legal action over what it alleges is the misuse of its trade secrets and intellectual property by rival promotion Bellator. Zuffa argues that fighter agent Ken Pavia passed along confidential Zuffa documents to Bellator after being asked to do so by the promotion’s founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. It accuses Bellator of using these documents to help run their business.
An email which Zuffa’s lawsuit alleges is from Rebney to Pavia on July 4 was attached as an exhibit to the 16-page suit. In it, Rebney writes, ” … 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.”
When asked for comment by Yahoo! Sports on Thursday, Pavia wrote “I want to get a better understanding of this before I comment” while Rebney referred calls to Bellator attorney Patrick English, who said he didn’t know enough about the suit to comment.
The suit was filed in Nevada against Ken Pavia, Bellator and other involved but unnamed individuals and corporations. Zuffa seeks actual and punitive damages and a permanent injunction barring Bellator or Pavia from using Zuffa’s assets, including its intellectual property.
