32Red rivals give up infringing domain names
Two rivals of online casino 32Red have given up their infringing domain names.
Both 32Royal and Spin32 have transferred all domain names containing the number ‘32’ over to 32Red without condition.
This follows the company winning a case in the High Court against William Hill and Playtech site 32Vegas, in which the judge dismissed the view that the ‘32’ trademark held by 32Red should be invalidated because that “the 32Red brand was highly distinctive”, and “enjoyed a strong reputation in the online gambling community”.
He 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”.
Ed Ware, CEO of 32Red Plc said: “We are happy to have these two other infringing domains safely under our control. The protection of an online entity’s intellectual property rights are vital to the wellbeing of any internet 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”.