E-WSOP

Harrah’s Sues for Right to WSOP.com Domain

WSOP — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:01:23 +0000

Harrah’s has recently announced it is suing Federico Schiavio, a former Binion’s IT manager who is the owner of the domain wsop.com. Harrah’s believes its World Series of Poker trademark entitles it to the rights for the wsop.com domain as well, alleging that the current owner of the domain is intentionally misleading visitors.

Harrah’s claims that “Schiavio’s use of the WSOP mark in connection (with) the domain name WSOP.com is intended to trade off Harrah’s goodwill and reputation.” While Harrah’s does own the WSOP trademark (which it purchased from Binion’s), the crux of their case revolves around whether or not visitors believe they are visiting the official WSOP site when they type in wsop.com, or whether it’s reasonably clear that the site could belong to anyone, not just Harrah’s.

WSOP Finalist Charged by San Antonio Police for Illegal Bookmaking

WSOP — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 14:01:26 +0000

2006 WSOP finalist Richard Lee’s home was raided by San Antonio police in early September, with police collecting evidence to connect him to an illegal San Antonio-based bookmaking operation. Lee placed sixth year at this year’s WSOP.

Police had apparently been investigating Lee for over a year, alleging that he was illegally taking bets on sports through a website he owned and operated.

WSOP Winner Jamie Gold Sued For Half His WSOP Winnings

WSOP — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:02:46 +0000

Television executive Bruce Leyser met Jamie Gold (who would go on to win $12,000,000 as the 2006 WSOP Main Event winner) in July. According to a lawsuit filed by Leyser in late August; Gold asked Leyser to help him find celebrities to endorse Bodog in the Main Event. If Leyser did so, Gold promised that he would “share” his Main Event seat. In light of the fact that Bodog was only giving away one seat, Leyser reasonably deduced that “share” meant “share the winnings”, leading him to sue Gold for $6,000,000, or half of Gold’s winnings.

As evidence Leyser claims to have an answering machine recording of Jamie Gold in which Gold states: “I promise you there’s no way anybody will go anywhere with your money. It’s your money.”

Leyser also asked a judge to file a temporary restraining order to prevent Jamie Gold from collecting his winnings from the Rio. Leyser fears that Gold might spend or gamble away the money before the issue is resolved. Chief District Judge Kathy Hardcastle granted Leyser’s request and has prevented Gold from collecting any of his winnings before Sept. 1st, the scheduled date of the case’s first court hearing.