The dispute between World Series of Poker (WSOP) on-felt sponsor Everest Poker and the casino gaming goliath Harrah’s just became even more heated. Late last week, the Las Vegas Sun newspaper reported that Everest Gaming Limited sued Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment claiming trademark infringement for using “Everest trademarks during the 2010 World Series of Poker now underway at the Rio.”
In April, Ultra Internet Media, the parent company of Everest Poker, sued WSOP owners Harrah’s Entertainment alleging breach of contract. The online poker site is in the final year of a three-year deal to sponsor the annual Las Vegas tournament spectacle and is on the hook for $8.4 million in 2010 of the $22.5 million originally agreed to. However, the French television station RTL9, which airs in Everest’s primary market, has displayed Full Tilt’s logo on the WSOP felts instead of Everest Poker’s.
Officials from ESPN, Harrah’s, and Everest Poker met in February 2009 to discuss the issue, but broadcasts continued to appear featuring the Full Tilt Poker logo. Enter the newest lawsuit, which was obtained by Poker News Daily on Thursday and reads in part, “Defendants’ unauthorized use of Everest’s trademarks in connection with the 2010 WSOP is done in a manner to imply falsely, deceptively, and confusingly that Everest is a sponsor of the 2010 WSOP or that Everest has licensed or authorized Defendants to use its trademarks in conjunction with that event.”
Harrah’s officials have not yet removed the logos in question, continuing to spark the ire of Everest Poker’s primary stakeholders. The site features sponsored pro and Frenchman Antoine Saout, who finished third in the 2009 WSOP Main Event for $3.5 million. Two months prior, Saout final tabled the WSOP Europe Main Event, exiting in seventh place and picking up £114,000. The stable of Everest Poker sponsored pros also includes fellow French player Fabrice Soulier.
Everest Poker, which was acquired by Mangas Gaming last December, does not accept players from the United States. The newest lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court in Nevada and is numbered 2:10-cv-00904. Perhaps its most poignant line reads, “Defendants are refusing to remove trademarks in an effort to try to force payment by Everest for Defendants’ use of such marks, and in order to bolster the legitimacy of the WSOP in the minds of tournament participants, fans, and the viewing public.” The 2010 WSOP will begin airing on July 27th in the United States on ESPN.
The case cites “irreparable harm” and adds that the continued use of the logo “trades on the goodwill which has developed in that trademark, and such acts damage the rights of Everest in said trademark and the goodwill represented thereby.” The logos of Everest Poker and Everest Poker’s dot-net educational site are both depicted in the suit, which alleges that Everest Poker has coughed up $150 million in promotional expenditures for its brand in the last six years.
Other stats Everest included in its filing were that the site has ballooned from 19,000 players in early 2005 to 170,000 today. Since its assumption of the WSOP sponsorship, Everest Poker’s dot-net site has received, on average, about 21,000 visits per year from U.S. players. Everest Poker’s revenues have followed suit with the increase in players, growing from $6 million five years ago to $90 million. Finally, Everest Poker claims that the agreement between the online poker site and Harrah’s was “terminated” on January 1st, 2010 as a result of the ongoing squabble with the French cable outlet.
Read the entire Las Vegas Sun story. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WSOP coverage.
