Lions, Tigers, and Trademarks: IP Lessons from “Tiger King”

Author: Alison Pringle

Netflix’s recent docu-series “Tiger King” has quarantined Americans captivated—a reported 34 million viewers binged the series within the first ten days of its release alone. Amongst the series’ tiger-related exploits lies a bitter trademark lawsuit brought against the series’ mullet-sporting anti-hero Joseph Maldonado-Passage (known to viewers as “Joe Exotic”).

Maldonado-Passage created the Oklahoma-based “GW Exotic Animal Memorial Park” and filled it with tigers, lions, and other exotic animals. Throughout the 2000s, Maldonado-Passage became infamous in animal rights circles for breeding tiger cubs and exhibiting his animals at malls across the country.

The “Tiger King” series chronicles the long-standing feud between Maldonado-Passage and Carole Baskin. Baskin is the founder of “Big Cat Rescue,” a non-profit sanctuary for big cats. Maldonado-Passage was eventually put on trial after an unsuccessful plot to murder Baskin went awry. While Maldonado-Passage is currently serving a twenty-two year prison sentence for attempted murder-for-hire and violations of the Endangered Species Act, it was a trademark judgment that served as the catalyst for Exotic’s downfall.

Trademark Litigation

In 2005, the Big Cat Rescue Corp. registered a BIG CAT RESCUE logo for charitable fund raising services, animal rescue services, and entertainment services such as animal exhibition1:

After trying to shut down Maldonado-Passage for years, it was Baskin’s trademark rights that allowed her to finally pounce and take legal action against him. In 2011, Big Cat Rescue filed a lawsuit in the Middle District of Florida against Maldonado-Passage and GW Exotic after the latter adopted the trade name “BIG CAT RESCUE ENTERTAINMENT.” Big Cat Rescue alleged Maldonado-Passage and GW Exotic sought to disparage Big Cat Rescue through the “BIG CAT RESCUE ENTERTAINMENT” mark by causing the public to believe Big Cat Rescue was engaged in the exploitation of exotic animals.

For a trademark infringement claim, a plaintiff must show that: (1) it has developed a protectable trademark right in a trademark; (2) the defendant uses a confusingly similar mark in such a way that creates a likelihood of confusion, mistake and/or deception with the public; and (3) the plaintiff incurred damages as a result of the defendant’s infringing actions.

Big Cat Rescue’s trademark registration evidenced its rights in the “BIG CAT RESCUE” mark. Big Cat Rescue also did not have a large hurdle to jump in demonstrating Maldonado-Passage’s “BIG CAT RESCUE ENTERTAINMENT” mark was confusingly similar to the “BIG CAT RESCUE” mark. Big Cat Rescue further presented three key facts demonstrating Maldonado-Passage willfully infringed its mark.

First, Maldonado-Passage created the below ad featuring the “BIG CAT RESCUE ENTERTAINMENT” mark over a photo of a snow-leopard’s eyes, which Big Cat Rescue alleged was “virtually identical” to a photograph Big Cat Rescue used as the banner for its website at the time. The ad for the Oklahoma-based zoo displayed a Florida telephone number and the words “Florida Office,” which Big Cat Rescue argued would confuse the public into believing “Big Cat Rescue Entertainment” was affiliated with the Florida-based Big Cat Rescue.

Second, Big Cat Rescue demonstrated Maldonado-Passage used the BIG CAT RESCUE ENTERTAINMENT mark to try to divert Google traffic to his sites rather than those of Big Cat Rescue. A Facebook post created by a user named “Joe Exotic” stated, “If you must know, I registered Big Cat Rescue Entertainment and leased the name out so you could ruin BCR on Google all by yourself, and it is working. LOL.” Another “Joe Exotic” post referred to Big Cat Rescue Entertainment as “My new company LOL.” Maldonado-Passage attributed both posts to hackers.

Finally, Big Cat Rescue alleged Maldonado-Passage had also sought to file the trade name “The Caroll Baskin Entertainment Group.”

In defense of the infringement claim, Maldonado-Passage argued in his pre-trial statement that his actions were a necessary response to BCR’s campaign of disseminating misinformation about him in an effort to shut him down:

Defendants had no alternative but to respond, in part, by reflecting the egregious conduct of BCR and the Baskins back upon BCR through a counter-campaign designed to do nothing more than cause BCR to suffer from its own misconduct.

This lawsuit, and BCR’s abuse of copyright laws, is merely one more tool for the Baskins and BCR in their all-out assault on Defendants.

This argument did not absolve Maldonado-Passage from liability for the trademark claims brought against him. The parties ultimately stipulated to entry of a consent judgment against Defendants prior to trial.

References to Baskin’s Late Husband Excluded from Trademark Trial

Of note for fans of the series and legal procedure buffs, Big Cat Rescue filed a motion in limine to exclude any reference at trial to Baskin’s late husband, Jack Donald Lewis. Lewis’s 1997 disappearance remains a significant source of controversy and was featured heavily in the docu-series. Throughout his feud with Baskin, Maldonado-Passage frequently spouted his belief that Baskin killed Lewis and fed him to one of her tigers. Maldonado-Passage even went so far as to reference Lewis’s disappearance in his pretrial statement and press releases related to the lawsuit. As Big Cat Rescue argued, and the Court affirmed in granting the motion (unsurprisingly), mention of Lewis’s disappearance would likely prejudice a jury against Big Cat Rescue and had no relevance to the trademark infringement claims at issue.

Trademark Judgment

 The docu-series demonstrates the power and value of a trademark as well as the potentially high stakes of an infringement suit. The trademark judgment aided in eventually bringing down the “Tiger King.” Big Cat Rescue was able to recover all of Maldonado-Passage and GW Exotic’s profits from their mall road shows during the time period Defendants adopted the “BIG CAT RESCUE ENTERTAINMENT” mark. Total gross receipts from Defendants’ road shows between 2010 and 2011 equaled $653,000.00. Big Cat Rescue was also entitled to $300,000 for its attorneys’ fees and costs related to the trademark lawsuit, amounting to a total judgment of $953,000.

As shown in the series, the judgment financially ruined Maldonado-Passage and GW Exotic. Big Cat Rescue’s aggressive judgment enforcement actions seem to have sent Maldonado-Passage into a tailspin that eventually led to him hiring a hitman to take out Baskin.

Tiger King offers much in the way of Jerry Springer-esque entertainment and nothing when it comes to moral guidance. Viewers can take away one lesson, though: don’t use your competitor’s trademark as a weapon and brag about it on the internet.

Alison Pringle is an associate in Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. Her practice focuses on intellectual property and commercial litigation, with an emphasis on trademark, copyright, contract, technology, and privacy disputes. She also counsels clients on transactional intellectual property issues. Ms. Pringle’s biography can be found here.
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1 USPTO Serial No. 76568568. In 2014, the Big Cat Rescue Corp. also registered the word mark BIG CAT RESCUE under USPTO Serial No. 85850084.