Fulltime Fantasy Sports, which operates under the Scout Fantasy brand, filed suit this week in federal court against CBS Interactive, accusing the media giant of trademark infringement and breach of contract among other things.
Despite multiple demands, CBSi has refused to pay the amounts owed to Fulltime, cease and desist using the Scout Fantasy name and logo, and clarify for consumers that CBSi and Fulltime have parted ways. As fantasy football season approaches, Fulltime has been forced to file this action to seek relief from the Court’s so that CBSi will stop misappropriating Fulltime’s intellectual property and good will, stop confusing consumers, and pay Fulltime what it is owed.
The lawsuit comes in US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Fulltime and CBS Interactive entered into a publisher deal in 2017 after CBS Interactive bought most of Scout Media’s assets out of bankruptcy. Scout Media declared bankruptcy in late 2016 because of a shortfall of $870,000 in missing funds.
CBS Interactive used the Scout Fantasy brand to promote its fantasy sports offering under the terms of the agreement. Fulltime claims the deal with CBS Interactive entitled it to 70 percent of subscription revenue and 35 percent of advertising revenue related to the Scout Fantasy brand.
Fulltime accuses CBS Interactive of first making reduced payments and then stopping payment altogether. It also says the media company merged the Scout Fantasy Facebook page with one of its own, eliminating Scout’s 60,000-person follower base. Fulltime asks for $180,000 — $3 per follower — for the Facebook action and unspecified damages for the breach of contract and other accusations.
According to the lawsuit, “The Scout/CBS (purchase agreement) listed a general “Scout” trademark as an acquired asset, but did not list the Scout Fantasy brand or trademark.” The CBS Interactive website lists Scout as one of its brands; clicking a link for it takes you to this website.
CBS Interactive did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly stated that Fulltime Fantasy Sports declared bankruptcy. Scout Media is the entity that declared bankruptcy. LSR regrets the error.
