MGM goes after online trademark bandit

Whoever owns or operates the online gambling brand MGMLive.com (and it’s by no means sure who that is) should proceed with caution…major US land and online gambling giant MGM Resorts International has you in its sights.

On Thursday MGM Resorts filed suit in a Nevada court, accusing the online trademark pirate of illegally using its trademarks, including its famous lion logo, in its online gambling-related presentations, thereby “trading off of the substantial fame goodwill and consumer recognition” of the Las Vegas-based group.

The filing notes that the Chinese language site of the unknown owner of MGMLive.com is masquerading as the real MGM in order to lure online punters, and even has the gall to include on the fake website a false copyright notice claiming it is owned by MGM Resorts International.

MGM seeks injunctive relief and the transfer of the domain name, plus compensatory and punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees and costs, however as other major companies have discovered, it is not always easy to track down the individuals behind this sort of operation; sites can be shuttered, but collecting a court damages award is often another matter entirely.

For example, Las Vegas Sands famously won a trademark infringement case and a $2 million award in 2015 against 35 Chinese websites, and although the sites were shut down it is unlikely that the award was successfully collected.

In another case, MGM pursued a Panama-registered online gambling company titled Smart Answer, which was using famous MGM casino brands to further its business activity; MGM won the case, closed down the websites but chose not to go after its $2.2 million damages award due to the difficulty of successfully finding and extracting the money from the anonymous owner.

It seems that online website owners – and especially those in foreign lands and with illegal intentions – have the ability and are adept at covering their tracks.

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