A Texas man is fighting efforts by MGM Resorts International to seize his excaliburpoker.com domain name.
MGM Resorts on Dec. 1 filed suit against four individuals and two companies it says have been infringing on its trademarks and/or "cybersquatting" with their poker-themed website names. The suit asked the court to turn the names over to MGM Resorts.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Las Vegas, targeted domain names that include the word “poker” and the names of MGM Resorts casinos on the Las Vegas Strip: Aria, Bellagio, Circus Circus, Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay and MGM.
With some of the domain names being registered as early as 2002 and 2005, the timing of the suit suggested MGM Resorts wants to eliminate infringing websites in anticipation of its own potential entry into the online poker field, though the company and its attorneys have not commented on that theory.
The Dec. 1 suit followed one filed in August by MGM Resorts against the owners of Gold Strike poker websites, again alleging these infringed on MGM Resorts’ trademarks for its Gold Strike properties in Jean, Nev., south of Las Vegas; and in Tunica, Miss.
That lawsuit was closed in September after the parties reached a confidential settlement.
In the Dec. 1 lawsuit, defendant Adam Majewski of McKinney, Texas, filed a motion for dismissal this week, saying his excaliburpoker.com website doesn’t infringe on MGM Resorts’ Excalibur casino trademark.
Majewski said he’s an entrepreneur involved in online gaming, Internet marketing and social media.
Majewski’s website is simply a page not offering gambling and has been that way for several years following his acquisition of the domain name, Majewski said in his court filing.
The lawsuit indicates Majewski registered the Excalibur poker website name in 2005.
"Excalibur is not a distinctive mark,” his court filing said. “It was the sword of kings in the Arthur legends. Thousands of businesses use this name – Excalibur Bowling, Excalibur Taxi and even Excalibur Condoms."
"Recent changes in Nevada law have opened up the prospect for Internet gambling," his response said. "Late to the feeding frenzy, MGM wants to leverage the well-known names of its hotels in Las Vegas."
The excaliburpoker.com site does not compete with the Excalibur hotel-casino and "there is no likelihood of confusion because the hotel does not offer online gaming," his filing said.
Majewski also said he's deliberately not targeted Nevada with his online poker activities.
The filing said he registered domain names for U.S. cities and poker such as DallasFreePoker.com, BostonFreePoker.com, etc., the idea being players could compete against others in their hometown for prizes offered by local advertisers.
"I specifically left off Las Vegas, Reno and Henderson as I concluded that individuals that could already gamble for real money would not want to play for prizes valued at a few dollars," he said.
The entrepreneur also asked that if the lawsuit is not dismissed, that it be transferred to Dallas.
He complained MGM Resorts "made no attempt to contact me prior to filing this action" and the suit was filed to "impose substantial burdens on me to defend my private property" including having to litigate it in Nevada.
Nevertheless, U.S. District Judge Philip Pro on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction requested by MGM Resorts International against Majewski and the other defendants.
The judge said Majewski’s dismissal motion will be considered once it’s fully briefed.
The preliminary injunction blocks the owners of the poker website names from transferring them to new domain name registrars or transferring their registrations to other people or entities.
It accomplishes this by ordering GoDaddy.com and other registrars to "place the domain names on hold and lock and deposit them into the registry of the court."
"The issuance of a preliminary injunction is in the public interest because it would protect consumers against deception and confusion arising from domain names containing plaintiff’s trademarks, and from the use of plaintiff’s trademarks, by persons other than plaintiff," the order says.
Besides the excaliburpoker.com domain name, the order covers the domain names ariapoker.com, bellagioonlinepoker.com, circuscircuspoker.com, luxorpoker.com, mandalaybayonlinepoker.com and mgmpoker.com.
Separately, MGM Resorts filed another trademark lawsuit this week over the Bellagio trademark, but it doesn’t involve online poker.
That suit claims defendants Bellagio Shoes Inc., Shlomo Ronen, Bertini Shoes Inc. and Itzhak Ben Shoshan have been infringing on the Bellagio hotel-casino trademark by operating a Bellagio shoe store in Santa Monica, Calif., and with websites using Bellagio’s stylized “B” mark. These websites sell shoes, handbags and accessories, the lawsuit says.
A request for comment was placed with the defendants.
Attorneys at the Las Vegas office of the law firm Lewis and Roca LLP represent MGM Resorts in both lawsuits.