Bellagio, Luxor, Rio are suing Web firms

Grace Leong and Kim Smith

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2000 | 10:58 a.m.

The Bellagio hotel-casino is seeking an injunction against several overseas Internet gaming companies in a bid to stop them from offering gaming on their online casino websites using the BELLAGIO trademark, and selling or registering domain names that contain the mark.

In a U.S. District Court suit, the Bellagio sued two Canadian Internet gaming companies, Stargate Entertainment Inc. and Starnet Communications International Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, and its officer Ken Ng, alleging they tried to disrupt Bellagio's business by diverting customers away from Bellagio's website www.bellagiolasvegas.com to their "Club Bellagio Casino" website.

The Strip hotel is seeking an order to compel Network Solutions, the registrar of domain names, to return Stargate and Starnet's domain names clubbellagiocasino.com, clubbellagiocasino.net and bellagioclubcasino.com.

Starnet Chief Executive Meldon Ellis could not be reached for comment.

In a second suit, the Bellagio sued International Lotteries of Wilmington, Del., and two business entities in London, Bellagiocasino and Bellagioonlinecasino, alleging they illegally used the BELLAGIO mark to offer gaming on their online casino "Bellagio Casino" at their website www.bellagiocasino.com.

Bellagio is seeking an order to require Network Solutions to transfer the defendants' domain names, bellagiocasino.com, bellagiocasino.org, bellagiocasino.net, bellagioonlinecasino.com, bellagioonlinecasino.org and bellagioonlinecasino.net back to Mirage Resorts Inc., Bellagio's parent company.

The suit alleged International Lotteries also operates another online casino "Casino Monte Carlo," and the home pages of both online casinos prominently display a text box stating the casino operators are "A Group You Can Trust."

The suit said the text box on both sites links to the same internal page of the online casino at casinomontecarlo.com/othercasinos.htm, entitled "Casino Associations," which lists the domain names casinomontecarlo.com and bellagiocasino.com.

Bellagio alleged the defendants refused to stop operating their online casinos or to transfer the domain names without compensation and International Lotteries' administrative contact Claude Levy allegedly said he didn't believe that Bellagio owned valid trademark rights to the BELLAGIO mark.

The hotel-casino said that since Internet gaming is an unregulated industry and consumers can easily place bets at the defendants' Internet casinos, the Las Vegas resort's reputation would be tarnished if the defendants were to defraud or offer poor quality services under the BELLAGIO mark.

The International Lotteries defendants could not be reached for comment.

In a separate U.S. District Court suit, the Luxor hotel-casino is seeking an injunction to stop Network Ft. Lauderdale of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., from illegally using the LUXOR trademark to offer pornography over the Internet.

The Luxor is seeking a court order to force Network Solutions to transfer Network Ft. Lauderdale's luxorshowgirls.com domain name back to the hotel-casino.

The defendant could not be reached for comment.

And Rio Properties Inc. filed a federal trademark lawsuit against a Florida sports gambling business.

The suit says Rio International Interlink No. 863, which does business as Rio Sports Book, has "adopted Rio's distinctive Rio mark as part of its trade name, service mark, domain name and stylized logo in a knowingly, willful and intentional effort to trade upon the goodwill associated with Rio's famous Rio mark."

Rio Sports Book officials could not be reached for comment.

The suit says Rio International ads appeared in the Football Betting Guide '98 Preview and in the Nevada edition of the Daily Racing Form.

The Daily Racing Form ad invited customers to visit the firm's website at RioSports.com and the casino's website PlayRio.com.

The suit said the sports book deactivated the website in May 1999 without comment after the casino's attorneys contacted the company, only to activate another website, BetRio.com.

The casino suit alleges infringement of federally registered trademarks, false descriptions and representations and federal trademark and service mark dilution.

The lawsuit says the sports book has "diluted the distinctive quality of and tarnishes Rio's famous Rio mark in violation of the Federal Dilution Act of 1995."