Boyd Gaming files trademark lawsuit over use of Stardust name

Boyd Gaming Corp. of Las Vegas sued a website domain name owner Thursday, charging he's misusing Boyd's Stardust trademarks for Internet gambling sites.

Boyd filed a trademark infringement complaint in U.S. District Court for Nevada in Las Vegas against Hans Martin Pollack, whom Boyd says lives in Austria and has websites called stardustgaming.com and stardustgaming.net.

Boyd is asking the court to order Pollack to stop infringing on Boyd's trademarks and to block him from selling those Internet domain names. That way Boyd can gain control of the website names, should it prevail in the lawsuit.

"Defendant is exploiting plaintiff's goodwill and seeking to capitalize upon consumer confusion," the lawsuit alleges.

Attorneys for Boyd said in the lawsuit that the Stardust name has great value as it was the name of a hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip that operated from 1958 to 2007, when it was imploded.

The suit noted the movie "Casino" was based on the operation of the Stardust in the 1970s and early 1980s; "Showgirls" and "Swingers" were filmed partly in the hotel and the glittering Stardust road sign is seen in movies including "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."

Since the implosion, Boyd has continued to use the Stardust trademark with its Stardust Suite and in gaming area signage at its Orleans hotel-casino in Las Vegas, the suit says.

There's also a Stardust-branded parking lot at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Boyd has a Stardust Event Center at its Blue Chip hotel-casino in Michigan City, Ind., attorneys for Boyd said.

"Since the Stardust property first opened in 1958, millions of visitors throughout the United States have visited and seen the Stardust property and Boyd's other properties that continue to use the Stardust marks," the lawsuit said.

Pollack, in the meantime, as an alleged "cybersquatter" has put up websites that use the Stardust name -- and that "use the distinct lettering and background elements used in the historic Stardust road sign that helped make the Stardust name famous," Boyd complained in its lawsuit.

A message for comment was left with Pollack.

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