Genting Berhad maintains that the appearance of its Resorts World Las Vegas (RWLV) resort, still under construction, could not be confused with that of Wynn Resorts’ trademarked design.
In its disclosure with the Malaysian Stock Exchange, the operator said it had filed its opposition to Wynn’s lawsuit that seeks to stop construction of RWLV according to current design plans, due to similarity in appearance to Wynn properties. Such a petition, Genting said, was based on “speculative extrapolation,” with construction of the resort still at an early stage, and nearly two years before a scheduled 2020 opening.
“The design and construction of [Genting’s] resort and casino are on-going and the completed project, when open for business in late 2020, will look dramatically different from [Wynn’s] properties,” the opposition read.
Included in the opposition were pictures showing how RWLV will look when completed, “to dispel any suggestion that a reasonable consumer could confuse [Genting’s] and [Wynn’s] resort and casino for each other.”
Genting added that Wynn was unable to show “the threat of imminent and irreparable harm,” as required for the court to put a stop to the contested proceedings.
The Malaysian operator also said in its disclosure that construction for RWLV is ongoing “and remains on track.”
RWLV is located just across the street from the Wynn Las Vegas and Encore buildings. In its complaint, Wynn claimed to have evidence that Genting had instructed an architect to come up with a design similar specifically to Wynn’s.
The distinctly Wynn look is said to involve curved, bronze windows or horizontal banding, as seen in its Vegas properties, as well as the Wynn Macau, and the Encore Boston Harbor resort in Massachusetts, still in development.
Las Vegas Review Journal said that Genting’s opposition had also warned that stopping the project would cost an estimated $169 million, and lead to 500 construction workers being laid off immediately.
“If an injunction is granted and glass installation is stopped for months or longer, I anticipate that approximately one-third of those on-site workers—500—would be immediately dismissed, as they are working on elements of construction that would be affected by a glass stoppage,” project manager William Richardson of W.A. Richardson Builders said, as quoted in Genting’s opposition.
Las Vegas Review Journal also said that Wynn, through a representative, indicated it was not withdrawing from its petition. In an email to the news outlet, Wynn said that the images submitted by Genting to refute Wynn’s claims were dated 2019, after the December 21 filing of Wynn’s complaint, and “do not reflect the actual construction directly across the street from our resort.”
