BY KEVIN CAPP is a CityLife staff writer. He can be reached at 702-871-6780 ext. 396 or kcapp@lvcitylife.com
est. 2002
There are a lot of ways to describe Curtis Davis
and Kevin Felder's company, the Curcarlin Entertainment Group (& Ringboyz
Sportzgear).
Small might be one. Local might be another. Or you could combine the two and add
one more adjective: A small, local clothing company.
Yet given its troubles with Contender Partners, LLC, the company that puts on
the ESPN boxing reality show The Contender, the most accurate
description of Curcarlin may also be the least appealing: the gnat on the
horse's ass.
But, since putting out a modest line of boxing apparel called The Contender in
2002 and establishing a website to sell the merchandise, Davis says this is
exactly what his company has become to Contender Partners, a company formed by
reality-show kingpin Mark Burnett's production company and DreamWorks
Television. And Davis says the David-versus-Goliath battle is costing him big.
Posted on the wall near the computer inside Davis' office -- a cluttered back
room in his apartment -- is one of his shirts. It's a sleeveless black workout
shirt with "contender" printed in the center in bright red letters surrounded by
two white circles. Nothing fancy, just a shirt with a logo.
Indeed, what makes the shirt special, according to Davis and Felder, is not so
much what it says but the philosophy behind it: to celebrate the uncrowned
champions and almost-champions. A 100-percent-cotton song for the unsung, if you
will.
Among the pugilistic notables Davis says have been spotted wearing the shirts or
in possession of them are Floyd Mayweather and Arthur Williams. And then there
are three others: Ishe Smith, a boxer who participated in the first season of
The Contender; Sugar Ray Leonard, one of the show's hosts; and Frank
Stallone, brother of executive producer Sly, the guy famous for playing Rocky,
the dim-witted Italian bruiser with a heart of gold.
When The Contender came to Las Vegas to hold auditions for the
show, Davis says, many of the local boxers hoping to be one of the 16 chosen to
battle it out in the ring for a shot at winning $1 million were wearing The
Contender shirts.
But Contender Partners wants more than just the name on the shirts.
In a February 2005 letter Davis says is from Rich Shuter of Dream Works
Television, Shuter wrote Contender Partners "would like to use the name of our
upcoming television program ... in connection with certain merchandising items,
including, but not limited to, clothing, athletic wear, sporting goods, and
similar items." Shuter adds Curcarlin and Contender Partners can both sell
merchandise using the "contender" name with "no actual customer confusion."
In other words, Dream Works will go forward with its products -- even though
(Ringboyz Sportzgear) Curcarlin had the name first.
In an effort to seal the deal, Shuter offered Curcarlin the opportunity to use
The Contender TV show's name and logo on an invitation for a party
held by Curcarlin in March 2005 at Joey Bistro. He also said Contender Partners
will anonymously donate $2,500 to a charity run by Davis.
Shuter did not return a phone call seeking comment.
In a March 2005 letter in reply to Shuter, Davis rejected the idea that the two
companies can co-exist because Contender Partners has the resources to outshine
Curcarlin. Davis declined the $2,500 donation, but thanked Shuter for allowing
the "one-time" use of the TV show's logo on the invite.
Then in April 2005, Dream Works' attorney Christopher C. Larkin wrote a letter
objecting to Curcarlin's use of the series logo on the invite when Shuter's
letter made it clear the logo could only be used after an agreement was signed
that neither party would sue the other for hawking contender merchandise. But
Larkin finished by conceding that Davis' use of the logo isn't a big deal since
the invite featured a disclaimer that it was a "one-time" use.
Case closed.
But then NBC took The Contender off the air and Curcarlin snatched
the domain name Officialcontender.com. "At that point we figured they were
gone," says Davis.
Not so.
ESPN scooped up The Contender for its second season. Earlier this month
another letter from Larkin arrived. He was miffed about Curcarlin using boxing
gloves within the letter "o" in "contender" on the site. He was also miffed
about the "As Seen on TV" post. Finally, the use of the word "official" wasn't
kosher, either. Contender Partners demanded the "official" and "series-related
references," including the phrase "The Contender," be removed from the site and
any shirts -- lest Larkin churn out a complaint for trademark infringement and
unfair competition.
Finally, Larkin demanded Curcarlin "surrender or transfer the 'Officialcontender.com'
domain name to Contender Partners."
Davis says the letter-writing campaign has hacked into his
business. "We had investors that wanted to come in and invest with us. But then
the TV show came up, so that sort of scared the investors away."
His son Keith Bowen says he intended to use the proceeds
from selling the shirts to create events to show kids "there's more than just
staying in the 'hood." Now he can't.
A message left with Larkin's office was returned by Brian Edwards, a licensed
promoter with The Contender. "We have not tried to stop them from doing
things ... before the show," says Edwards. But, he adds, "We've asked them
strongly to stop associating it. We think it's an attempt to tie into the show."
The website features a small message near the bottom of the homepage: "not
affiliated with The Contender TV show." But Larkin's May letter says this
isn't "prominent" enough.
While Contender Partners has no plans to sue, says Edwards, he does say that "at
some point we have to reserve our options." He suggests Curcarlin is pulling a
smoke-and-mirrors job in an attempt to get Contender Partners to pay for the
domain name and rights to the merchandise.
Davis acknowledges he wants money, just not for the reasons Edwards suggests. "They're pissed off because we got the domain name first.
They want everything, but they just don't want to pay. If I'm a big corporation,
I can just slam dunk you and take your money."
Kevin Capp is a CityLife staff writer. He
can be reached at 702-871-6780 ext. 396 or
kcapp@lvcitylife.com
*Letter to the reader
*We at Ringboyz Sportzgear & Curcarlin Entertainment Group are not trying to harm the 2005 television show THE CONTENDER in any way shape or form. To hurt this great show would hurt our beloved sport of boxing.
What we are defending is one's ideas, truth, and free enterprise as we know it, that is what this fight is all about. If you have an idea and if you let someone bigger than you just steal it, then free enterprise as we know it is dead.
Both sides have lost a lot of money. Ringboyz Sportzgear and Curcarlin Entertainment Group represents the little guy, because we are the little guy; we want to become big guys, legally, legitimately, and honestly with our honor and integrity intact.
We never took the short route in building our companies purposely to keep our integrity. Please do not protest or hold the show hostage.
We turned this over to the Lord, he'll work it out.
Respectfully,
Curtis Davis
Kevin Felder
Preview National Television Commercial
Thursday,
May 18, 2006
