Harrah's Sues For Its Own WSOP Brand

Harrah's Entertainment filed a lawsuit in Las Vegas District Court for rights to the WSOP.com domain. Former information technology director for Binion's Federico Shaiavio purchased the URL several years ago and refuses to give up his rights. It's more likely that his asking price is beyond what Harrah's is willing to cough up.

Harrah's claims it should own the domain name since purchasing Binion's, as its intent was to utilize every facet of the World Series of Poker brand. Hence, in 2004, pursuant to an Intellectual Property License Agreement, Binion's Horseshoe was stripped of its lucky charm, to be referred to as simply Binion's.

According to MTR's definitive agreement to buy the property on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas, Harrah's was supposed to retain the rights to certain intellectual property, including the names "Horseshoe" and "World Series of Poker." Harrah's agreed to allow MTR to retain the right to use the name "Binion's" in Clark County, Nevada. Upon termination of the Joint Operating Agreement, MTR is supposed take over operation of the property and will rebrand the property in accordance with the Intellectual Property License Agreement.

Of immediate concern is the fact that wsop.com currently links to an Internet gambling site. This defies Nevada gaming regulations and, even though Harrah's has no ties, such ties are certainly implied, and the average visitor to the site could easily be misled. The implications and ramifications are most likely the driving force behind Harrah's lawsuit, not to mention that Schiavio is profiting off the brand.

Harrah's had already applied for a patent on the name "WSOP," which means Schiavio's website might lose all of its rights to Harrah's.

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