Las Vegas Sands Corp. moved Tuesday to shut down what it says is a counterfeit website impersonating Sands’ home page.
Attorneys for the hotel-casino giant filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the unknown operator of the site.
The website copies elements of Sands’ genuine website, shows photos of Sands’ properties like the Venetian and the Palazzo on the Las Vegas Strip and includes headings like “Corporate Overview,” “Our Properties” and “Investor Relations,” the lawsuit says.
Unlike the real Sands’ website, the counterfeit version offers an investment opportunity unrelated to Las Vegas Sands, the lawsuit says.
“Defendant is operating an investment scheme through a website that purports to be Las Vegas Sands’ official website,” the hotel-casino giant complained in the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.
The suit seeks a temporary restraining order requiring domain name registrars to remove or disable the site’s domain name and transfer it to control of the court.
The website is causing Las Vegas Sands to lose control of its goodwill and reputation as the website operator “attempts to defraud consumers into believing that it is affiliated with Las Vegas Sands,” the lawsuit said.
The operator of the website could not immediately be located for comment.
The suit was filed by attorneys at the Las Vegas office of the law firm Lewis and Roca LLP.