The inaugural Match Indian Poker League is finding it tough to get a trouble-free run at things after the Indian Premier league threatened legal proceedings over the use of the acronym IPL, and Muskan Sethi is set to be honoured by the President along with 99 other Indian women who have broken into male-dominated professions.
When the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) changed its name to the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) because it clashed with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) what hope does Raj Kundra and Patrick Nally have when it comes to the use of the acronym IPL?
Ask anyone with a modicum of sporting knowledge what the letters IPL stand for, and they will tell you that it’s the Indian Premier League. And so you can understand they would get a bee in their bonnet after Kundra and Nally decided to call their new poker league: Match IPL.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has written to both Kundra (of Viaan Industries) and Nally (President of the International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP), politely pointing out that they have no right to use those three words in the marketing of their new project.
The Mumbai Mirror reported that BCCI’s legal team sent warning letters on August 25 asking the pair to refrain from calling their league Match IPL. The BCCI also supplied the Mirror with a quote that called Kundra and Nally’s use of the term IPL a ‘blatantly unlicensed and illegal use of ‘IPL’ proprietary name’. The Mirror also reported that the letter stated that the name IPL is ‘protected’ and belongs to the BCCI.
Kundra seems unperturbed.
Speaking with the Mirror, Kundra said that as he is using the term IPL in connection with the words Match and Indian Poker League and the inherently distinct difference is allowed under law. I would have thought simple SEO knowledge would have made the use of Match IPL a non-starter.
The Indian Supreme Court banned Kundra from any involvement in cricket in relation to a 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal.
The legal wrangle continues.
Indian President Honours Muskan Sethi
With the world slowly discovering the universal nature of sexual harassment and assault thanks to the #MeToo social media campaign, it’s nice to write about a country honouring their women.
Next month, the Indian President, Ram Nath Kovind, will honour 100 women who have broken the mould by becoming the first females to take professions in male-dominated professions.
The Women and Child Development Ministry (WCD) selected the women who took roles as diverse as the first woman to manage a crematorium, the first female bartender, and the first lieutenant general.
The reason I’m writing about it is the Global Poker League (GPL) India, Delhi Diehards Team Manager, Muskan Sethi, will be honoured as the first Indian female professional poker player.
GPL India founder, Alex Dreyfus, said he was ‘very proud’ of Sethi’s achievement, and the news site GLaws tweeted that her recognition was ‘big news for poker.’
