Report: Tito Ortiz issued cease and desist request from UFC
June 4, 2008 by Adam Morgan
MMAPayout.com has learned that Tito Ortiz was recently served a cease and desist request from the UFC. The subject of the complaint was the cover of Ortiz’s recently released autobiography, entitled This is Going to Hurt. The book’s cover features Ortiz wearing the UFC Light Heavyweight Title is intellectual property of the UFC. As such, its use in promotional materials requires the company’s approval per the terms of its standard contract.
On one hand, this seems a little harsh on the UFC’s part and looks like another attempt to kick Tito in the ass on his way out. On the other hand, you know that some of Tito’s books are selling because he’s brandishing the UFC gold on the cover. And the UFC is not seeing a dime from the sale of his book so can you really blame them?
Let the guy go just another Dana ego trip A** hole
So, basically NOBODY can show any of their pictures with the UFC logo on it?
I suppose Dana is going to start suing Royce Gracie for royalties from pictures of UFC 1 now?
More damning evidence confirm the UFC cares nothing about its fighters or its own history. The UFC are just a bunch of vindictive money grubbing dimebag hoes.
Uh, Tito Ortiz isn’t one of their fighters…
PS: You should probably never watch another UFC show, seeing as how you wouldn’t want to be accused of feeding the machine. I know I would never give one cent to “a bunch of vindictive money grubbing dimebag hoes.”
Pretty petty on the ufc’s part. I thought dana was out of the tito business? Now he wants to ruin his book deal?! Not good publicity for the ufc especially considering trumps involvment in affliction now.
ufc will fall to another company soon enough
The UFC has to send cease and desist requests for anybody using their logo without permission otherwise it sets a precedent and means they lose their trademark. For more information lookup “Genericized trademark” in Wikipedia.
Tito doesn’t mind trashing the UFC and their measly pay, but he’ll wear the title on his book cover to sell a few more copies. Sounds like Tito being a hypocrite to me. People need to get off the Dana sucks bandwagon. The NFL, NBA and any other company works the same way. If David Ortiz doesn’t include the Boston Red Sox and MLB in his vitaminwater deal, he can’t be shown wearing any logos affiliated with MLB during the vitaminwater ad campaigns. That’s why you see advertisements with players wearing generic jerseys with the team colors and no logos. Why should a company let someone profit without them getting something in return? I’m all for the UFC on this one.
F@CK THE UFC!!
You know… if $45 aint enough for a PPV?
They dont want to pay there fighters SHIT!
Then they try to kick a man when he leaves.
I say Tito had the belt and the belt is not the reason the books sells…. TITO is!
I lost so much respect for the UFC for the way they dealt with the fighters that got them popular… (Randy,Tito,Andre,Big Tim)
being a professional graphic designer, this is the kind of thing whoever set up the layout could have seen coming a mile away. granted when it was designed, he was still under contract, but using unlicensed images is a big no-no. my office has been in similar situations several times. copyright laws are not to be taken lightly… even though it may seem petty to most.
I don’t blame the UFC a bit. Like the guy up there said, they had to or it sets bad precedent. I am sure lots of idiots will say the UFC is an a-hole, but come on, read the damn contract and follow the rules. As in life, if you give someone and inch, they take a mile, so the UFC has got to stick by their contracts or they become just a piece of paper. Go ahead and bash Dana and the UFC, but those that do obviously no nothing about the business world.
So in 10 years time, you’re saying GSP and BJ WON’T be able to put up pictures from their UFC title reign without paying big $$$ to the those dimebag hoes Dana + the Fertittas?
Pretty sad how the UFC markets the guys like Titos for HUGE PPVs, and then a few years later after the fighters lose their skills they kick them to the curb and try to marginalize their former champions.
Has anyone seen commercials with pro sports players in uniforms w/ the same colors of their team, but w/o the teams logo?
Same thing here…if the team ain’t getting paid, they will not allow their logo to be used…
And i think Dallas Cowboys make more money than the UFC…so its the samething…
I think UFC’s hands are tied, hell all Tito probably had to do was ask permission, but he was too worried about talking shit at every chance he got about the head of the organization. I’m surprised the publisher didn’t pick up on this, they are the one who do this stuff for a living.
As far as using intellectual property, what has been stated is correct, if you don’t issue a cease and desist then you set the precedent for it to always happen. While this may be vindictive, it is completely legal and really smart. Bash Dana/UFC/Zuffa all you want but they are brilliant businessmen who are protecting themselves. This also forces the book to be pulled which then allows them to get a chance to have some backing in case some sort of libel is stated in the book.
Oh and blahblahblah, dana suxorz. So don’t use that argument either.
@#13: Yes, but I’d put money that the UFC’s notoriously one-sided contracts retain the right to use Tito’s likeness after he’s gone
Tito deserves this after all the trash talking and disrespect to the ufc. As far as I am concerned - he was luckily to even have a job and he didn’t appreciate it.
When tito was a good fighter, there was no money in MMA..
Now that there is some money to go around tito goes demanding shit. His last fight shows how little money he deserves.
You have to look at the bigger picture. What drives more publicity for Tito and Dana/UFC??? That’s right “controversy”.
This whole Tito/Dana thing is way over the top. What do youy think it did for PPV sales at UFC 84? All that hype, that just made more people tune in to see how Tito did in his “last fight”. Did Tito get a percentage of the PPV’s? He has in the past, was it written in his contract? I didn’t hear that it was but I didn’t hear that it wasn’t. Why wasn’t that question asked?
The whole thing is only making Tito’s and Dana’s/UFC’s name bigger. How do you sell a book??? Add some controversy and have the media blow it up for you. That’s a big win for Tito. For the UFC, who the hell knows, maybe they’ll have Tito come back to fight later. All this crap now would only make that scenario bigger. Furthermore if it is written in the contract that Tito can not pose for pictures with his belt on, then it’s a contractural thing. He legally cannot do it. Tito is just using this for attention because the UFC will sue him over it and what will happen? More controversy. Very simple really.
I don’t believe for a second that Tito really cares about anything other than “The Tito Ortiz” business. I have no problem with that and I wish him well, I really wished he could have closed out that triangle with Machida, that would have been classic. However all this is just media manipulation.
I taking the UFC on this as well. As stated before, they have to because of the trademark, or everyone will be doing it. I do think its also a pissing match with Dana and Tito. Its been reported, Tito was offered a higher contract than before and turned it down. I don’t like the guy, but he is a name people recognize and will tune in to see. But look at his record since 2001, 3 wins over Shamrock, and questionable win over Griffin, a draw, and a few losses. Hes not the top guy he thinks he is. And if he doesnt want the UFC deal, he shouldn’t try to sell his book as the UFC LHW champ. I’d rather see him fight in Elite with some new matchups.
You can say what you want about tito’s losses, but who were they too? Chuck Liddell, Chuck Liddell again, and Lyoto Machida. You say he’s not a top guy, but his losses are to top 3 LHW’S. About the draw…… he beat rashad, everyone should know that.
One more thing, I don’t think the win against griffin was all that questionable. Just watch it again and score each round while you watch.
Tito has got to be happy with the free publicity that the legal action gives him.
So,the book has been recently released, but could be taken off the shelves due to the complaint. People will read this and think that they better get a copy before it is no-longer available to buy. I’d love to see the sales figures up to and then following the release of this piece of news.
You’re right David, it will be a huge ebay item.
Tito Ortiz and I now have something unique in common - we have both been served C&D papers by Zuffa. When they took ufctakedown.com from me, it led me to help Sam running this site. Maybe Tito is the next one to join our staff?
Can I blame them? why yes i can
The UFC is the only child who never learned to play with others.
MMA is mine
the UFC title belt you won is mine
Hey IFL Xtreme Couture is mine
Randy Couture is mine
UFC= mine, mine
War! free publicity and lawsuits that drive up book sales
I love it!!! Anyway that Zuffa can throw its weight around to hurt fighters, I am all for….we watch the UFC for the brand and Dana White and anything that hurts the brand or Dana White must be crushed…Down with fighters Up with Zuffa
You have to appreciate the irony of this situation. Tito talks a lot about the business of MMA and at least implies that he’s knowledgable on the subject. And then he stubs his toe with the photo on his book, apparently violating the terms of his own contract, never mind the applicable intellectual property laws. Didn’t he know what was in his own contract? If he did, why incur the expense or have his publisher incur the expense of pulling all his books off the shelf? Either he’s not as smart as he thinks, or he’s being underhanded. Based on how he’s handled the UFC situation over the last several years, I suspect it’s the former.
You guys are all retarded. Why should Zuffa let a fighter who no longer fights for them use their branding in order to shill his ghost-written pap? A fighter who has consistently been a thorn in their side as he continually insults the company and undermines them with half-formed arguments that are nowhere near based in reality?
Tito is a joke who is just out to make money for himself. No different and no better/worse than Zuffa.
Adam,
You really think some of his books are selling because people notice the UFC Belt on the cover? That’s pretty interesting.
Brandon,
Well, Morgan the writer is an interesting guy to say the least…
@#28 Brian
You guys are all retarded. Why should Zuffa let a fighter who no longer fights for them use their branding in order to shill his ghost-written pap?
I dunno. I mean, do baseball players often have their jerseys or hats on in their biography pics? Should and Olympic medal winner be able to show their medal on the cover of their book? For a lot of athletes these types of things are the greatest achievements of their lives, it seems like they should be able to use the likeness to me.
The problem is that the UFC tries to straddle the line between both sport commission and privately owned corporate brand.
You whiner fans better not cry and stop buying the UFC PPV over this torrent. It’s a torrent between the UFC and Tito and it’s none of the UFC fans business. So let the UFC ground and pound ever last torrent of blood from these spent chumps will ya? Today’s star is tomorrow’s loser chump and the UFC will chew em up and spit em right back on the curb before you know it, just like a fast torrent.
I don’t think you’re using that word (torrent) correctly. Inconceivable.
fuck tito i read the book and it’s all twisted and exagerrated to make him look better. true though who gives a fuck about the cover, ufc’s got enough money.