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Casinos Fight Cybersquatters22 July 2002WASHINGTON -- As reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal: `` Three years after Congress enacted a law to curtail the unauthorized use of a company's brand name on Internet sites, the practice of `cybersquatting' continues to be a growing problem for casinos. ``Cybersquatting is the unauthorized online use of a business trademark in an Internet domain name. Gambling cybersquatters may operate games under an established casino's trademark or they may use the trademark to lure customers who are then transferred to other gambling Web sites. ``Gambling analysts estimate 35 percent of Internet casinos either cheat by fixing their games or refuse to make payouts to winners. ``This concerns officials from brick-and-mortar casinos, who worry that the improper use of their trademarks could destroy the goodwill developed with customers over several years. ```In the last three years, on behalf of various publicly traded casino corporations, we probably have filed more than 30 cybersquatting actions,' said Mark Tratos, whose Las Vegas firm Quirk & Tratos represents MGM Mirage, Mandalay Bay and Boyd Gaming, among others. ``The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act of 1999 allows companies whose trademarks are being exploited to seek civil damages up to $100,000. ``...If these sanctions prove an insufficient deterrent, exploited casinos can pursue remedies of traditional federal trademark infringement laws, which permit open-ended damage awards. ``Although cybersquatting remains a problem for all businesses, casinos are particularly vulnerable..." |