Mandalay targets website operator

Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2002 | 11:15 a.m.

Mandalay Resort Group sued in U.S. District Court to stop a Lincoln, Neb., company from linking Mandalay's Gold Strike trademark to "City Gold" -- an online directory that guides Web users to hundreds of Nebraska business websites.

Mandalay, which owns the Gold Strike hotel-casinos in Jean and in Robinsonville, Miss., sued Advistar Inc. and its owner Norton Warner Jr. on Monday, alleging violations of the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and Nevada Deceptive Trade Practices Act, trademark infringement and dilution and unfair competition.

Mandalay said the defendants improperly offered their domain name "goldstrike.com" for sale to Mandalay and its competitors on June 29, claiming that the domain name was "extremely valuable to the 'casino and online gaming industries.' "

When contacted by Mandalay's attorney on July 8, the defendants allegedly indicated they didn't find it problematic to transfer their domain name to Mandalay and requested a letter confirming Mandalay's trademark ownership, the suit said.

But the defendants, after receiving the requested letter, hired an attorney in California and refused to transfer the domain name unless they were paid a substantial amount, the suit said.

The defendants then linked the domain name to their website "City Gold" at citygold.com and "for the first time, attempted to create a bona fide offering of services on the website ... and created the subterfuge that goldstrike.com was a 'gateway' to the City Gold website and was a site where websites created by the defendants for their clients were available for client review."

The defendants could not be reached for comment on Mandalay's allegations.