Online casino operator 32Red has announced that two further operators of online casino websites have given up infringing domains and relinquished control of them.
This follows 32Red’s avowal that it would "continue taking steps to assert and protect its intellectual property rights" after its recent High Court victory against William Hill Online, which was operating a site called 32Vegas.
Now it’s been revealed that the owners of 32Royal have transferred its web address to 32Red unconditionally, and that another gaming operator, Spin32, has changed the name of its business and transferred all domains containing the digits 32 to 32Red, again without condition.
The strength of 32Red’s intellectual property rights was publicly and unequivocally confirmed in the case against William Hill Online. In a judgment handed down in January by Mr Justice Henderson, after a six-day trial the previous October, the court upheld 32Red’s claim that 32Vegas, an online casino operated by William Hill Online under a joint venture between William Hill and Playtech, infringed 32Red’s European Community trademarks.
The judge also dismissed William Hill’s claims that the trademarks owned by 32Red (32Red and 32) should be invalidated. He concluded that "the 32Red brand was highly distinctive", and "enjoyed a strong reputation in the online gambling community". Mr Justice Henderson added: "The goods and services covered by the Vegas signs were identical, and the degree of similarity between the signs and the Community marks was high, including in particular the initial 32 ... the detriment to the distinctive character of the community marks lay in the risk of a false association with 32Vegas, a brand with an inferior reputation which operated in the same marketplace."
32Red CEO Ed Ware commented: "The protection of an online entity’s intellectual property rights are vital to the wellbeing of any online business, and as an entirely online enterprise, with no physical presence in our markets, this makes our brand, our domain name and our reputation pivotal to the success of the business.
"We have had the imagination to create a distinctive and appealing brand in 32Red, and have invested millions in advertising it over nearly 10 years. We will continue to take action to protect our property and rights where necessary."
