Following the example set by several US land gambling groups, Macau-based casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd has fired a general warning shot across the bows of online casino operators that it says are infringing its trademark rights.
In a public notice, the company warns:
“Recently, it came to our attention that our hotels and/or resort properties’ trade names, trademarks, photo images and customer services hotlines have been exploited by illegal and unauthorised online gaming and betting websites.”
The company gave examples, citing ‘Galaxy Macau Casino’, ‘Galaxy Entertainment City’ and ‘Macau Galaxy Entertainment City’, and claimed that the intent of the users was to mislead the public into believing the operator was associated with Galaxy.
The Macau giant stressed it had “…no affiliations with any online gambling and betting sites” and has not authorised “…any websites and/or related companies to carry out any form of online gambling and betting activities for and on behalf of the group”.
Legal action will be launched against any online operator infringing the trademarks and corporate identity, and Galaxy urges the public to report any such imitations to it.
In June this year Las Vegas Sands, which has extensive land casino interests in Macau, announced litigation against the anonymous registrants of 35 Chinese language websites and domains (see previous reports)