Tuesday, May 20, 2003

The real "Casino de Monte Carlo" wins over online gambling firms in cybersquatting case before Fourth Circuit

In International Bancorp, LLC v. Societe des Bains de Mer et du Circle des Etrangers a Monaco, the Fourth Circuit in an opinion by Judge Luttig joined by Judge Niemeyer sided with the Casino of Monte Carlo in a cybersquatting case over 50+ websites with names such as casinodemontecarlo.com and casinomontecarlo.com, even though the marks were not registered in the United States. Judge Motz dissented, claiming that "majority reaches the unprecedented conclusion that an entity’s use of its foreign trademark solely to sell services in a foreign country entitles it to trademark protection under United States law, even though the foreign mark holder has never used or registered its mark in the United States."

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