Casino and real estate developer file trademark suit

Monday, June 3, 2002 | 11:15 a.m.

An Internet company and a real estate broker in Las Vegas have been accused in a lawsuit of infringing on the trademarks for Henderson's Green Valley Ranch master-planned community and the Green Valley Ranch Station Casino in that community.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court last month by Station Casinos Inc., the holding company of Green Valley Ranch Station Casino and Green Valley Development Limited Partnership against Kevin Knuhtsen and three of his companies: IPlayer Inc., Greenvalleyranch.com Information Services and Big Picture Interactive. Also sued was real estate broker Edd Ahrens.

The suit alleges Knuhtsen used his greenvalleyranch.com Internet site for commercial gain, linked it to a "Dennis Rodman Casino," tried to sell the greenvalleyranch.com domain name to Station and provided a link to Ahrens' website estatesinvegas.com.

The defendants' actions confused consumers "by representing that defendants' services, websites and Internet domain names are those of plaintiffs, when, in fact, they are not," the lawsuit alleged.

The suit accuses Knuhtsen and Ahrens of trademark infringement, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices. Knuhtsen is also accused of "cybersquatting," or using a domain name that is identical or similar to the plaintiffs' trademarks.

The Greenspun family, owner of the Las Vegas Sun, developed the Green Valley Ranch master-planned community. The Greenspuns and Station are partners in the Green Valley Ranch Station Casino.

Knuhtsen worked for the Greenspuns' VEGAS.com website as an Internet marketer in 1997 and 1998.

Knuhtsen said he could not comment on the allegations because he had not seen the suit. Ahrens said he had no comment.