{"id":46888,"date":"2017-03-15T16:00:05","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T23:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=46888"},"modified":"2017-03-15T13:33:59","modified_gmt":"2017-03-15T20:33:59","slug":"mgm-sues-online-casino-trademark-infringement-identity-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-sues-online-casino-trademark-infringement-identity-theft\/","title":{"rendered":"MGM Sues Online Casino Over Trademark Infringement and \u201cIdentity Theft\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">MGM Resorts is suing an online casino for trademark infringement and cybersquatting.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_46889\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-46889\" data-style=\"width: 357px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-46889\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/url-3.jpg\" alt=\"MGM sues online casino \" width=\"357\" height=\"141\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/url-3.jpg 357w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/url-3-142x56.jpg 142w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 357px) 100vw, 357px\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-46889\"class=\"text-description\">MGM Resorts gets litigious over a rogue online gambling company using its name, but history shows big casino brands have a tough time collecting damages in these cases. (Image: MGM )<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\">A lawsuit filed in US District Court for the District of Nevada on Thursday accuses the unnamed operator of LiveMGM.com of incorporating the company\u2019s trademarks, including its famous lion logo, for the purpose of \u201cimpersonating MGM and trading off of the substantial fame goodwill and consumer recognition\u201d of the MGM name.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">LiveMGM.com, a Chinese language site, is accused of pretending to be the real MGM in a attempt to \u201clure gamblers to gamble at its illicit website,\u201d according to the filing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The casino giant is seeking injunctive relief against the operator, as well as transfer of the domain name, plus compensatory and punitive damages, and attorneys\u2019 fees and costs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The filing notes that LiveMGM.com\u2019s homepage even contains a false copyright notice at the bottom of the home page, stating \u201cCopyright MGM Resorts International.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><b>Damages Hard to Retrieve <\/b><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\">Casino giants like MGM are periodically required to defend their intellectual property rights aggressively against unscrupulous gambling websites. In 2015, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-sands-sheldon-adelson-dines-with-trump\">Sheldon Adelson\u2019s Las Vegas Sands Corp<\/a> won a similar lawsuit against 35 Chinese online gambling websites that each appropriated the company\u2019s logo and played fast and loose with its intellectual property.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">This must have been particularly galling for Adelson whose hatred of online gambling is well documented.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>LVS was awarded $2 million in damages and granted a permanent injunction against the websites. While the sites were taken down, it\u2019s very unlikely those damages were ever recovered from the rogue online operator.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">The owners of the websites applied for a privacy protection service when registering the urls, preventing themselves from ever being identified, which made it easy for them to disappear, very likely with players\u2019 funds.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><b>What Were They Smoking?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\">In 2008, Panama-based online gaming company Smart Answer lost a lawsuit for using MGM brand names, like Mirage, Bellagio, Circus Circus, and Mandalay Bay, in an attempt to lure patrons to its online casinos.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-delays-cotai-casino-opening-second-half-2017-macau-considers-tax-change\">MGM<\/a> won an injunction and $2.2 million in damages, a sum it chose not to pursue because of the\u00a0expense involved and uncertainties about the potential for recovery. Station Casinos sued Smart Answer the following year for similar reasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">But it\u2019s not just online casinos that are sometimes accused of nabbing intellectual property. In 2015 MGM sued Nevada-based medical marijuana company M Life Inc for infringing its trademark rights. \u201cM Life\u201d also happens to be the name of MGM\u2019s customer rewards program.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In that case, MGM claimed the brand similarity constituted \u201cdilution by tarnishment,\u201d and \u201ccreated an association in the mind of the consuming product,\u201d between the M Life loyalty program and the marijuana business, which, it said, further harmed the brand.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The medical marijuana company eventually agreed to change its name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MGM Resorts is suing an online casino for trademark infringement and cybersquatting. A lawsuit filed in US District Court for the District of Nevada on Thursday accuses the unnamed operator of LiveMGM.com of incorporating the company\u2019s trademarks, including its famous lion logo, for the purpose of \u201cimpersonating MGM and trading off of the substantial fame [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":46889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,19,60,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>MGM Sues Online Casino Over Trademark Infringement and \u201cIdentity Theft\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"MGM claims that LiveMGM.com is a cybersquatter that has stolen its branding and intellectual property.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MGM Sues Online Casino Over Trademark Infringement and \u201cIdentity Theft\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MGM claims that LiveMGM.com is a cybersquatter that has stolen its branding and intellectual property.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-sues-online-casino-trademark-infringement-identity-theft\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-15T23:00:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-15T20:33:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/url-3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"357\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"141\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-sues-online-casino-trademark-infringement-identity-theft\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-sues-online-casino-trademark-infringement-identity-theft\/\",\"name\":\"MGM Sues Online Casino Over Trademark Infringement and \u201cIdentity Theft\u201d\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-sues-online-casino-trademark-infringement-identity-theft\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-sues-online-casino-trademark-infringement-identity-theft\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/url-3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-15T23:00:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-15T20:33:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"MGM claims that LiveMGM.com is a cybersquatter that has stolen its branding and intellectual property.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-sues-online-casino-trademark-infringement-identity-theft\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-sues-online-casino-trademark-infringement-identity-theft\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-sues-online-casino-trademark-infringement-identity-theft\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/url-3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/url-3.jpg\",\"width\":357,\"height\":141,\"caption\":\"MGM Resorts gets litigious over a rogue online gambling company using its name, but history shows big casino brands have a tough time collecting damages claims in these cases. 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