Westgate pushes Barstool to stop using trademark phrase

Dave Portnoy, the founder of the popular media company and fledgling sportsbook, posted on Twitter on Wednesday a cease-and-desist letter from an attorney representing the Westgate.

“Nothing makes me more confident when other gambling companies like @WestgateVegas start sending us cease and desists for us tweeting ‘good teams win, great teams cover,’ Portnoy wrote. “By the way there is literally no chance they invented that. That’s like saying you invented the question mark.”

Westgate sportsbook vice president Jay Kornegay declined to comment. A Westgate spokesman did not return an email seeking comment.

A Barstool spokeswoman provided another statement from Portnoy: “I’d be embarrassed to be their lawyers and send a cease and desist on a phrase they clearly didn’t invent and nobody associates with them.”

But bettors in Las Vegas probably do. The Westgate uses the phrase in most of its marketing materials, including on its website and on T-shirts given to entrants for the SuperContest, its annual NFL handicapping competition.

A document from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows an application for the trademark was filed in 2008, and the trademark was registered in 2012.

In the letter Portnoy posted, dated Jan. 12, Justin McNaughton of the law firm Greenspoon Marder noted that the Westgate previously notified Barstool about the use of the trademark on June 4, 2020.

“This is the second time we have had to contact you, which is evidence that your conduct is willful,” the letter stated.

The letter pointed to a Twitter post from the Barstool Sportsbook about Notre Dame’s backdoor cover against Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinals Jan. 1. The tweet now appears to have been deleted.

Barstool partnered with Penn National Gaming in 2020, and Barstool Sportsbook has launched in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV on Twitter.