Casino operator sues over Treasure Island website

Wednesday, June 13, 2001 | 10:03 a.m.

The owner of the Las Vegas Strip's Treasure Island hotel-casino sued to stop a Belize company from violating the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act when it allegedly registered and used its trademark to offer online gambling services.

MGM MIRAGE'S Treasure Island Corp., which said it owns the domain name, "treasureisland.com," sued Knot Investments in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, alleging it linked its domain name, "wwwtreasureisland.com" to an online casino called "World Wide Gamble," where real money bets can be placed over the Internet.

Treasure Island charged Knot with committing "typopiracy" when it added the letter string, "www" to the beginning of the trademark to target web users who make the typographical error of leaving out the period after "www," which enables Knot to divert these users to its online gaming website.

The suit also said Knot had a "bad faith intent" to divert consumers from Treasure Island's website because it has allegedly registered several domain names that are identical or confusingly similar to other companies' trademarks, including "wwwbellagio.com," "wwwmgmgrand.com," "wwwford.com" and "wwwmiamidolphins."

MGM MIRAGE also owns the Bellagio and MGM Grand hotel-casinos.

The defendant could not be reached for comment on the allegations.