MGM Files Trademark Infringement Suit Against Poker Sites

MGM Resorts International has filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas this past Thursday against four individuals and two companies related to websites they claim infringe on their own trademarks.

Website domain names that are part of the suit include:

bellagioonlinepoker.com

circuscircuspoker.com

excaliburpoker.com

luxorpoker.com

mandalaybayonlinepoker.com

mgmpoker.com

ariapoker.com

Not only does the suit claim the defendants will likely achieve “substantial wealth” as a result of holding such domains, the MGM suit also claims:

“The defendants have or have had a bad faith intent to profit from their registration of the domain names,” charges the suit, which alleges the defendants have been involved in either “cybersquatting” — the use of other’s trademarks to earn a profit online — or trademark infringement, or in some cases both.

“The defendants have done nothing more than tack on the descriptive terms ‘poker’ or ‘online poker’ to each of the MGM marks to form the domain names. Accordingly, there is no question that the domain names are confusingly similar to the MGM marks,” MGM Resorts’ attorneys said in a request for a temporary restraining order that would block the defendants from using those names.”

The defendants are as follows: 

• Shahram Kolahzadeh, believed to be a resident of Zimbabwe who allegedly registered the ariapoker name.

• Evan Krentzman of Woodland Hills, Calif., allegedly the owner of the bellagioonlinepoker name.

• Roberto Ciamillo of Shelby Township, Mich., allegedly the owner of the circuscircuspoker name.

• Adam Majewski of McKinney, Texas, allegedly the owner of the excaliburpoker.com name.

• PokerSons, an entity based in London that allegedly owns the luxorpoker.com and mgmpoker.com names.

• RevNet, an entity in Hackensack, N.J., that allegedly owns the mandalaybayonlinepoker.com name.

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com