GGRAsia – Wynn sues Genting Vegas scheme claiming copies its look

Wynn sues Genting Vegas scheme claiming copies its look

Dec 26, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

U.S.-based casino operator Wynn Resorts Ltd has filed a lawsuit with a Nevada, United States court, alleging that the promoters of an under-construction casino resort next door to its flagship Las Vegas property are trying to confuse the public by giving it a similar look.

The Associated Press reported the suit against Resorts World Las Vegas – a casino project from Malaysia’s Genting group – was filed on Friday with the U.S. District Court.

Other news outlets – including the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper – additionally stated that Wynn Resorts was seeking exemplary and punitive damages due to – as the suit reportedly described it – “violating plaintiff’s copyrights in addition to plaintiff’s registered and common law trade dress”.

Wynn Resorts’ lawsuit lists five counts: federal trade dress infringement; unfair competition and false designation of origin; federal trademark dilution; state trademark dilution; and copyright infringement.

Wynn Resorts is also said to have asked the court to order the defendant to “remove any materials or goods that constituted infringing trade dress” from the under-construction Resorts World Las Vegas.

Wynn Resorts is parent of Macau casino operator Wynn Macau Ltd. The brand is well known for the curved, bronze-coloured glass-fronted style of its hotel and resort towers, and the firm’s current management has expressed an interest in taking the brand into new markets, including Japan. The “Wynn” name has however been dropped from a Boston, Massachusetts project from the company, following allegations of sexual misconduct against the brand’s founder, Steve Wynn. The entrepreneur left the group during the first quarter of this year.

The Friday lawsuit is said to have included photographs of design elements in the multibillion-U.S.-dollar Genting scheme, which is due to open in 2020, according to previous statements by its promoters.

Wynn Las Vegas and Resorts World Las Vegas are both at the north end of the Las Vegas Strip.