No More Venitian Gold Casino Online
Published: Friday, August 12, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
NO MORE VENETIAN GOLD CASINO ONLINE
Virginia judge lowers the copyright boom on internet casino
It's been awhile since we've seen major brand defence actions against Internet tiddlers by large land based casinos, but this week a good one from Virginia surfaced with a ruling against the operators of Costa Rican based Venetian Gold Casino.com
Federal judge Gerald Bruce Lee of the US District Court for Virginia ordered an Internet gambling business to stop using names on its web sites that are similar to the trademark owned by The Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip.
The Global DIP, a Costa Rican corporation, violated the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act of 1999 by using the names without The Venetian's permission, ruled the judge.
Global DIP websites named in the action included VenetianGold.net, VenetianGold.com, VenetianGold Casino.com, VenicianGold. com, VenetianGoldCasino.net, VenecianGold.com and VeniceGoldCasino.com.
"The court finds that defendant domain names are confusingly similar to (The Venetian's) service marks because a reasonable consumer might think that they were used, approved, or permitted by (The Venetian)," Lee wrote in an opinion.
The Venetian hired Alan Fisch, a prominent Washington attorney who specializes in intellectual property cases, for its lawsuit against Global DIP.
"This should be a signal to any entity that they will not be able to profit off The Venetian brand," Venetian spokesman Ron Reese said.
Mark Evens, another Washington attorney who represented Global DIP and its chief executive officer, Vincent Coyle, in the Venetian lawsuit, has filed notice of appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va.
