Luxor in legal battle over name of Liquidity bar

By Steve Green

Monday, April 5, 2010 | 9:51 a.m.

A legal fight is under way over whether the Luxor hotel-casino can use the name "Liquidity" for one of its bars.

Records show Thomas D. Weldon of Fernandina Beach, Fla., in April 2008 obtained a federal trademark for the word "Liquidity" for use in the sale of red wine.

Weldon is now demanding that the Luxor resort on the Las Vegas Strip stop using the Liquidity name for a bar and lounge that opened at the Luxor in December 2007.

The pyramid-shaped Luxor says on its Web site: "Liquidity is the center of energy at Luxor and features interactive projections on a screen of water that will mesmerize with intriguing images. An internationally recognized music mix creates a cool vibe that will energize the pyramid."

But Weldon, in a Feb. 25 letter to Luxor, objected to the resort's use of the Liquidity name and demanded that Luxor "cease and desist from using any and all use of 'Liquidity' on Web sites or other marketing materials, and consider another non-confusingly similar name."

Attorneys for the Luxor, owned by gaming company MGM Mirage, responded last week with a federal lawsuit against Weldon.

The lawsuit claims Weldon "intentionally or recklessly made false material statements to the United States Patent and Trademark Office to obtain his registration for the Liquidity mark."

Attorneys for the Luxor, with the Las Vegas office of the law firm Lewis and Roca LLP, charge in the suit that Weldon told the trademark office that he used the Liquidity name in commerce in connection with red wine as early as August 2006.

But the Luxor claims Weldon has not used the Liquidity name in commerce. While the Napa Valley Reserve in California created a private label wine called Liquidity for the Weldon family estate, the wine was provided only for private use and was not sold or offered for sale to the public, the Luxor alleges.

The Luxor also complained that prior to its opening of the Liquidity bar, it and Weldon reached an oral agreement in which Weldon would use the Liquidity name for red wine and Luxor would use the Liquidity name for bar and lounge services.

"The parties agreed that there is no likelihood of confusion between the parties' respective uses of the Liquidity mark, because of the differences in the use of the mark, the differences between the goods and services offered by the parties, the differences between the geographic markets and the differences in the channels of trade," Luxor said in its lawsuit, adding that Weldon later refused to sign an agreement confirming the oral understanding.

Luxor said in its lawsuit that last year it applied for a Liquidity trademark and asked the trademark office to cancel Weldon's trademark. In its lawsuit, the Luxor also asks the court to cancel Weldon's trademark.

Attorneys for Weldon have not yet responded to the lawsuit.