Blue Chip is a no-no

The determination by US land gambling groups to defend their hard-won trademarks and brands was again evident this week in a federal court action brought by the Boyd Gaming Corp. of Las Vegas.
The action sued the Canadian owner of an Internet domain name, charging that it wrongly associates one of the Boyd casinos with an online gambling site.
Boyd Gaming legal representatives claim that Canadian resident Erik Hall in 2006 registered a domain name infringing on the trademarks of Boyd’s Blue Chip Casino, “a famous casino hotel spa”.
The allegedly infringing domain name was linked to the Full Tilt Poker gambling Web site, the suit charges, claiming that Boyd has a righful complaint of Internet cybersquatting, trademark infringement, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices.
“Defendant’s use of a domain name containing plaintiff’s Blue Chip marks has created a likelihood of confusion among consumers who may falsely believe that the infringing domain name and Full Tilt Poker Web site are associated with the Blue Chip Casino or that plaintiff sponsors or approves of defendant’s services or commercial activities,” Boyd charged in its lawsuit, filed Monday.
The response from Hall is now awaited.

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