The global hospitality corporation MGM Resorts International has reportedly filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against a number of individuals and companies who have registered domain names for poker websites.
MGM is claiming that around seven websites, which were registered a number of years ago, are infringing on its own domain. The websites named in the lawsuit, filed in Las Vegas recently, are:
• ariapoker.com
• mgmpoker.com
• bellagioonlinepoker.com
• circuscirucspoker.com
• excaliburpoker.com
• mandalaybayonlinepoker.com
• luxorpoker.com
In the lawsuit, MGM argues that it has spent billions of dollars promoting its casinos, and because of this, the names of all MGM casinos are well-recognised throughout the world. The two companies and four individuals named in the suit are attempting to capitalise on the corporation’s investment by registering such similar domain names, according to MGM.
“The defendants have done nothing more than tack on the descriptive terms ‘poker’ or ‘online poker’ to each of the MGM marks to form the domain names. Accordingly, there is no question that the domain names are confusingly similar to the MGM marks,”
Whilst it is likely that MGM Resorts International will have professional indemnity insurance for claims of this kind, the owners of the domain names may find fighting the case more expensive.