According to the LasvVegasSun.com, the owner of the Stratosphere hotel-casino in Las Vegas has filed suit against Marchex (MCHX) for alleged trademark infringement over the domain name AcePlay.com
The suit says Marchex has been using a domain name called Aceplay.com, purporting to offer information about the Stratosphere and three other American Casino properties; the two Arizona Charlie’s in Las Vegas and the Aquarius in Laughlin.
According to the article, links on the site produce additional links, including links to competing hotel-casinos.
American Casino claims in its suit that Marchex Sales Inc. has been involved in trademark infringement and ‘’cybersquatting,’’ which involves the registration of a website domain name that is similar to another party’s trademarked-name.
Wednesday’s lawsuit says the site also includes links to online gaming sites and that Marchex is believed to generate “click-through” revenue from the online casinos.
The suit also claims the website at issue infringed on American Casino’s “ace PLAY” loyalty club trademark.
American Casino “owns the exclusive right to use its ace PLAY trademark in connection with gaming services”
On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Gloria Navarro issued a temporary restraining order requiring a domain name registrar to immediately remove or disable the aceplay.com domain name, place it on “hold and lock” and transfer it to the control of the court.
Marchex will have an opportunity to contest the domain name seizure during a July 3 hearing.
PPC is more of a liability than anything else if you are sitting on a domain that you hope to someday sell.
Could be an interesting case…. on one hand Marchex owned the domain ACEPLAY.com since BEFORE “ACEP” changed their casino player rewards club name to “AcePlay” in Sept 2009 and filed for a Trademark one month later…..on the other hand the pretty & colorful snapshot of the Marchex landing page included in the complaint filing could be considered as a “smoking gun” —->
—————————————————————-
“The webpage contains links to online gaming sites and links to
ACEP’s properties, including the Stratosphere, Arizona Charlie’s and Aquairus. Upon
information and belief, Defendant receives advertising or “click-through” revenue from the
operators of these online casinos when visitors to the website click on one of the
links on the page.”
————————-
Marchex would prolly have tough time getting venue moved to Washington State (if they wanted to).. cuz they have an address in Las Vegas that is on this domain and many-many others
IMO the current URL for the players club “AcePlayInfo.com” is a bit on the weak side
Wonder if ACEP ever tried first to purchase the name from Marchex,, and if so,, how did the discussions go ???
These guys should win an award for being the absolute best at taking cash cows and turning them into meatloaf. The paid 164 million for an asset that spit out over 20 million in profit annually; added to it by buying a few hundred million worth of other cash generating businesses and then….fast forward a few years and the entire lot has a market cap of 116million some 50 million less than their original purchase of Yun Ye’s portfolio. The have invented a new paradigm by following a motto of it takes money to lose money!
Guess desparate times call for desparate measures so they have returned to cybersquatting in an effort to generate some cash flow.
The irony of a judge ordering the name to be shut off means companies like Verizon and Comcast are doing all the trademark infringement now.
Is it even worth contesting a name like this?
I suppose you might have to, if for nothing other than to further ensure you don’t earn a reputation as easy pickings, to make everyone think twice about getting froggy but it sure would suck having to sink money into ‘defending’ a marginal name like this. I guess you just have to. Cost of doing business for bulk portfolio holders.