Legal and Public Relations Battle Between Steroid.com and Elitefitness.com
April 15th, 2008
Dynamic Sports Nutrition, Inc., owner of Steroid.com website, filed a civil lawsuit in February 2008 against Elite Fitness Inc. and Caliber Design, Inc., owner of EliteFitness.com, requesting injunctive relief for copyright infringement. At issue is the electronic book (ebook) formerly marketed by Elite Fitness entitled â?????Anabolic Gameplan by Dino Strong.â???
The lawsuit alleges that Anabolic Gameplan infringed on copyrighted material owned by Dynamic Sports Nutrition, namely the use of â?????identical and nearly identical sentences, paragraphs and information tables from â?????Anabolic Steroids: Ultimate Research Guide by Anthony Roberts and Brian Clapp.â???
An out of court settlement appeared likely until this week when the owner of Elite Fitness sent out an email newsletter which, in part, offered insight into Elite Fitnessâ?????? legal strategy to defend themselves against the copyright infringement lawsuit.
So, weâ??????re off to the races defending a lawsuit over something I did not even write and spending thousands in the process. The irony here is that most likely, the judge will find that the copyright for Brian and Anthonyâ??????s book is invalid. To add insult to injury, according to my friend Bill Llewellyn, who authors the Anabolics series that he updates every year, Anthony and Brian plagiarized his work extensively when they wrote their book Anabolic Steroids Ultimate Research Guide that they claim Dino infringed. And Bill has agreed to testify on our behalf. The good part of Billâ??????s testifying is that Anthony and Brian cannot enforce a copyright that is shown to be invalid itself.
In other words, the defense hopes to invalidate the January 26, 2006 certificate of registration for Anabolic Steroids Ultimate Research Guide on file with the United States Copyright Office because the work allegedly infringed on the copyright for Anabolics 2007 by William Llewellyn by copying steroid information tables and charts. Apparently, if the certificate of registration is invalidated, then Elite Fitness believes Dynamic Nutrition no longer has a legal basis to claim copyright infringement.
This is a dispassionate overview of what I believe are the pertinent facts in the legal battle between Steroid.com and Elitefitness.com.
But the public relations battle, no matter how irrelevant to the legal case, will likely overshadow the legal battle, at least on the internet. Anthony Roberts, senior editor of Steroid.com, has been blogging about the deteriorating relationship with Elite Fitness for several months. George Spellwin finally responded publicly with a scathing attack on Anthony Roberts and Steroid.com in an email newsletter to members this week. In response, Anthony Roberts has addressed all allegations with multiple blog entries on his website yesterday and today providing background and insight into the animosity surrounding the lawsuit. Regrettably, I expect the acrimonious exchange to continue to the detriment of all involved.
MESO-Rx Blog
April 15th, 2008
Dynamic Sports Nutrition, Inc., owner of Steroid.com website, filed a civil lawsuit in February 2008 against Elite Fitness Inc. and Caliber Design, Inc., owner of EliteFitness.com, requesting injunctive relief for copyright infringement. At issue is the electronic book (ebook) formerly marketed by Elite Fitness entitled â?????Anabolic Gameplan by Dino Strong.â???
The lawsuit alleges that Anabolic Gameplan infringed on copyrighted material owned by Dynamic Sports Nutrition, namely the use of â?????identical and nearly identical sentences, paragraphs and information tables from â?????Anabolic Steroids: Ultimate Research Guide by Anthony Roberts and Brian Clapp.â???
An out of court settlement appeared likely until this week when the owner of Elite Fitness sent out an email newsletter which, in part, offered insight into Elite Fitnessâ?????? legal strategy to defend themselves against the copyright infringement lawsuit.
So, weâ??????re off to the races defending a lawsuit over something I did not even write and spending thousands in the process. The irony here is that most likely, the judge will find that the copyright for Brian and Anthonyâ??????s book is invalid. To add insult to injury, according to my friend Bill Llewellyn, who authors the Anabolics series that he updates every year, Anthony and Brian plagiarized his work extensively when they wrote their book Anabolic Steroids Ultimate Research Guide that they claim Dino infringed. And Bill has agreed to testify on our behalf. The good part of Billâ??????s testifying is that Anthony and Brian cannot enforce a copyright that is shown to be invalid itself.
In other words, the defense hopes to invalidate the January 26, 2006 certificate of registration for Anabolic Steroids Ultimate Research Guide on file with the United States Copyright Office because the work allegedly infringed on the copyright for Anabolics 2007 by William Llewellyn by copying steroid information tables and charts. Apparently, if the certificate of registration is invalidated, then Elite Fitness believes Dynamic Nutrition no longer has a legal basis to claim copyright infringement.
This is a dispassionate overview of what I believe are the pertinent facts in the legal battle between Steroid.com and Elitefitness.com.
But the public relations battle, no matter how irrelevant to the legal case, will likely overshadow the legal battle, at least on the internet. Anthony Roberts, senior editor of Steroid.com, has been blogging about the deteriorating relationship with Elite Fitness for several months. George Spellwin finally responded publicly with a scathing attack on Anthony Roberts and Steroid.com in an email newsletter to members this week. In response, Anthony Roberts has addressed all allegations with multiple blog entries on his website yesterday and today providing background and insight into the animosity surrounding the lawsuit. Regrettably, I expect the acrimonious exchange to continue to the detriment of all involved.
MESO-Rx Blog
