From an article in PokerNews online gaming and entertainment empire Bodog headed back into court last week to appeal against the default judgement imposed on them by a Nevada court last month.

A company called 1st Technology caught Bodog by surprise last month by claiming the downloadable casino software used by Bodog Casino was in breach of a patent held by 1st Tech. Bodog claims they were not served with notice of the proceedings and didn't appear at the hearing, resulting in the judge handing down a default judgement ordering the US-based domain name registrar to remove all Bodog-related websites from their servers and fining Bodog $49 million.

Calvin Ayre (Bodog's CEO) stated, "In addition to the inevitable appeal we are also intending to open up new legal fronts to ensure that this important issue is given proper judicial review in the US. This is the first time in history that a non-US company, with zero operations or assets in the US, has had its domain names seized with no prior notice simply because it was using a US-based domain-name registrar. We do not believe that domain names should be allowed to be defined as assets to be seized for purposes of collecting on a judgment."

Local TV stations are leading the way in preparing residents of the Reno area for the upcoming switch to digital television to ensure no residents lose their television signals when the transition occurs.

Yesterday, KRNV News Anchor Joe Hart educated members of the Reno Central Rotary Club about the digital television transition.

Under congressional mandate, all television stations must switch from traditional analog broadcasts to a digital signal by February 17, 2009. Nearly one million households in Nevada receive broadcasts exclusively through analog signals and stand to lose television reception when this switch is made.

I have only two thoughts on this piece:

1. Nevada has nearly one million households which only can receive analog signals? There are only about two and a half million people in the state; do that many people live alone in this state?

2. Oh Dems, won't you buy me a digital TV. My TV is analog; there's nothing to see. I work hard for my money, get taxed all the time. Oh Dems, without TV, it's talk radio for me. (Please sing out as if listening to Janis Joplin's Mercedes Benz tune.)