Tiger King Joe Exotic loses zoo to Carole Baskin amid TM dispute

A zoo formerly owned by Joe Exotic, the star of Netflix documentary “ Tiger King”, will be given to rival Carole Baskin as part of a $1 million trademark and copyright dispute.

Judge Scott Palk of the US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma gave Baskin control of the Oklahoma-based zoo on Monday, June 1, after concluding that Exotic had fraudulently transferred the zoo properties to his mother in 2011 to keep them out of reach of creditors.

Exotic is currently serving 22 years in federal prison after being convicted last year of involvement in a murder-for-hire plot and animal abuse.

In 2011, Baskin sued Exotic for trademark infringement, alleging that his travelling venture ‘Big Cat Rescue Entertainment’ resembled Baskin’s  Big Cat Rescue too closely.

Subsequently, Baskin filed two copyright infringement suits against Exotic, accusing him of posting Big Cat Rescue’s photos online. Two years later, Exotic agreed to pay more than $1 million to resolve the disputes.

Then, in 2016, Big Cat Rescue sued Exotic’s mother Shirley Schreibvogel, claiming that Exotic had fraudulently transferred the zoo to her to avoid paying creditors, including Baskin.

Earlier this week, Palk concluded that the transfer had been made “with the design and intent of removing the real and personal property from the reach of Big Cat Rescue so that it could not be used to satisfy Big Cat Rescue’s judgments”.

Big Cat Rescue has now been granted a constructive trust over the zoo and the court has ordered the current operator of the zoo to leave within 120 days and remove all animals from the property.

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