From “The Hunting Report” Online News Service December 1, 2006 Volume 1, No. 3

Grand Slam/Ovis Sues FNAWS

A simmering conflict between Grand Slam/Ovis (GSCO) and Foundation for North American Wild Sheep/International Sheep Hunters Association (FNAWS/ISHA) has burst into the open with GSCO's filing of a federal lawsuit charging FNAWS and ISHA with Trademark and Copyright Infringement, Breach of Contract and Tortious Interference with Business Expectancies and Relations.
The meticulous, 24-page lawsuit was drawn up by a major Intellectual Property Law Group in Seattle, Washington. It accuses FNAWS of wrongfully using copyrighted terms such as Grand Slam and World Slam, and wrongfully publishing and maintaining harvest records incorporating those terms. Moreover, GSCO claims that FNAWS/ISHA have been violating an agreement the two organizations signed in June 2005 relative to those terms. It asks the court to immediately enjoin FNAWS/ISHA from using the terms and goes on to ask for treble damages and payment of legal costs.

GSCO and FNAWS used to work closely together, of course. But the two organizations went their separate ways in 2003, issuing statements that papered over the tensions that caused the break-up. For a while it appeared that a truce would prevail between the two organizations, with FNAWS focusing on North American sheep hunting and GSCO focusing on international sheep and goat hunting. Clearly, that truce is over now.

Reached at press time, FNAWS' Ray Lee said he had just received the lawsuit and therefore could not comment on it. However, he said it was regrettable in his view that conservation funds were going to have to be spent on lawyers. He said he believed terms such as Grand Slam and World Slam were in the public domain, and he felt sure the court would agree with him and basically throw the case out.

At press time, GSCO's Dennis Campbell was away on a polar bear hunt and unavailable for comment. However, his office sent us the following press release:

Grand Slam Club/OVIS (GSCO) has filed a complaint in Birmingham's federal court against the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep (FNAWS) and the International Sheep Hunters Association Foundation, Inc. (ISHA). With this lawsuit, GSCO is trying to stop FNAWS and ISHA's unauthorized use of GSCO's trademarks and copyrights. GSCO has worked diligently to solve this dispute over the course of two years. The groups even negotiated an agreement, and portions of it were printed for their respective memberships in Grand Slam and Wild Sheep magazines. Unfortunately, FNAWS and ISHA have broken the agreement and have refused to stop using GSCO's trademarks and copyrights, leaving GSCO no other alternative but to ask for relief through the legal system. GSCO hopes this lawsuit will resolve fairly to all parties, with FNAWS and ISHA agreeing to respect GSCO's intellectual property so that we may together effectively serve the hunting community. - Don Causey,