32Red has been awarded around £1.1m in costs from William Hill in respect of its successful trade mark action against the bookmaker, drawing their four-year legal dispute to a close.
Hill’s has already paid £800,000 of the legal bill and will settle in full once the precise amount has been determined. 32Red was awarded damages of £150k in April of this year.
32Red boss Ed Ware said the company was “pleased” the situation had been resolved: “The 32Vegas brand was damaging to our business and litigation was the only available solution.”
The dispute between the operators began in late 2008, when 32Vegas.com became one of the many assets purchased by Playtech from its founder Teddy Sagi and transferred to William Hill in return for a 29% stake in the William Hill Online JV.
At this point, the previously Antiguan-owned and Kahnawake-licensed online casino, to which had 32Red had previously sent a cease-and-desist letter in May 2006, was able to target 32Red’s home market of the UK using William Hill Online’s Gibraltar licence.
William Hill Online subsequently refused to back down to a cease-and-desist letter sent by 32Red’s lawyers in January 2009, prompting 32Red to initiate legal proceedings in July 2009.
William Hill Online continued to deny 32Red’s claim it had a reputation in any of the marks and the infringement allegations, but ceased operating the 32Vegas.com website on 3 August 2009, rebranding it as 21Nova.com.
The High Court found in favour of 32Red in January 2011, ruling that William Hill’s use of the 32Vegas brand from 31 December 2008 until August 2009 infringed 32Red’s trademark rights in relation to the “32Red” mark.
At William Hill’s unsuccessful appeal against the decision, handed down in January 2012, the Appeal Court also ruled the online casino specialist’s rights in relation to the “32″ mark had similarly been infringed.
Article written by Katy Stirland
