Cannery casinos owner sues Web site operator

By Steve Green

Thursday, June 11, 2009 | 11:38 a.m.

The owner of the Cannery casinos in Las Vegas is suing the owner of a Web site that Cannery says infringes on its name -- and then links to competing hotel-casino Web sites.

Cannery Casino Resorts LLC filed a lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court against an unknown party running the Web site, which includes the words "Cannery" and "casino" in its address.

Internet users calling up the site find a page with links to apparently authentic Web sites operated by competing hotel-casinos.

Cannery, in its lawsuit, says that over the years it has filed 44 applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office covering its Cannery and related trademarks and that the Cannery name has substantial brand value.

The suit alleges trademark violations, unfair competition and violations of the federal Anti-Cybersquatting and Consumer Protection Act.

The Anti-Cybersquatting law targets "cybersquatters" who try to profit by the bulk registration of Internet domain names that include the names of well known companies, products and services.

By using the Cannery name for its Web site, the lawsuit says the defendants are "likely to deceive the public into believing that ... defendants are authorized by Cannery to use the infringing mark or the infringing domain name, or that ... defendants maintain an affiliation with Cannery to use the infringing mark or the infringing domain name, when in fact ... defendants are not so authorized by Cannery and ... defendants are not affiliated with Cannery."

Wednesday's suit against "Doe" individuals and "Roe" corporate entities was filed by attorneys James Boyle and Kimberly Cooper of the law firm Santoro, Driggs, Walch, Kearney, Holley & Thompson.