MGM Resorts International is going after cybersquatters for the third time in six months this time targeting domains that sound similar to their own. The Nevada stationed land-based casino business specialists are going after two sites in particular that it claims are using the firm’s Mandalay Bay and Bellagio brands in order to profit in the long run.
Hong Kong based Modern Empire Internet Ltd is the bad guy that owns both belaggio.com and mandalabay.com and it’s not the first time the outfit has been the scorn of a large corporation. Wlmart.com and theknott.com were among the some 3,000 domains owned by the company before the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) ordered them to transfer the two domains to the respective complainants. The latest two domains are currently parked in the Above.com garage and will remain so until the case concludes.
MGM’s case(number 1422265) with the NAF got underway yesterday and as the NAF doesn’t identify complainants until the dispute is over it’s just guess work as to whether MGM are indeed the complaint. They’ll be hoping for a similar finale to the cases mentioned above and it just underlines how seriously land-based interests in the USA are taking online gaming.
Domain name arguments are particularly pertinent right now as far as the US is concerned thanks to the DOJ changing tack on the Wire Act. MGM, thanks to its anticipatory three-way with Boyd Gaming and bwin.party, is well placed to take advantage of the new DOJ position and the domain name case just goes to back this up further.
