First came Steven Lipscomb,
president of Los Angeles-based WPT Enterprises. A
former documentary filmmaker, Lipscomb in 2002
figured out how to use tiny cameras, clever editing,
on-screen graphics and voice-over to make a
Texas
Holdem
poker game work on television. He founded the World
Poker Tour and had it broadcast on the Travel
Channel, to high ratings.
Meanwhile, Walt Disney's ESPN had been airing
dull, static broadcasts of the World Series of
Poker, the storied tournament started by Las Vegas
casino owner Jack Binion in 1970. ESPN cribbed
Lipscomb's camera techniques and flashy on-screen
graphics beginning last year. Now the network is
teaming up with casino giant Harrah's Entertainment,
which bought the World Series of Poker, to form
another league, the World Series of Poker Circuit.
That upped the ante. A WPT attorney warned
ESPN that Lipscomb's camera and graphics technology
was "proprietary"--his applications for patents on
those ideas are pending. Lipscomb says he may sue if
ESPN keeps "stealing our show." ESPN says it's done
nothing wrong.
Memo to any promoters of spelling bees: Check
the patent filings.
