Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010 | 12:21 p.m.
New York City luxury mattress executive Andrea Mugnai received a bit of bad news Wednesday while showing off mattresses at the World Market Center in downtown Las Vegas: a trademark infringement lawsuit against his company filed by the Bellagio hotel-casino.
Mugnai, general manager of Italian company Magniflex's U.S. operations, was served with a suit claiming Magniflex has been selling Bellagio-branded mattresses and that such sales violate trademarks for the Bellagio hotel-casino in Las Vegas, which sells its own luxury mattresses.
Messages for comment on the suit were left with Magniflex.
MGM Resorts International's 3,933-room Bellagio resort, represented by attorneys with the Las Vegas office of the law firm Lewis and Roca LLP, says in the lawsuit that the Bellagio hotel-casino has been selling mattresses, pillows, towels and robes to consumers.
The mattresses are manufactured by Serta especially for Bellagio, which uses them in its hotel rooms. They can be purchased at a retail store in the Bellagio or through Bellagio's website, the lawsuit says.
Bellagio's lawsuit says it's also been in talks to license the Bellagio trademark for mattresses that would be sold in third-party retail locations throughout the United States.
Magniflex, in the meantime, has been selling its luxury retail mattresses through U.S. retail stores and markets its mattresses and pillows to designers and hotels, including offering private labeling for hotels, the lawsuit says.
"Magniflex touts to hotels that there is 'extraordinary revenue opportunity via sales to guests,"' the suit says.
Bellagio says in the lawsuit that in April, Magniflex offered for sale a Bellagio mattress at the Spring 2010 High Point Furniture Market in High Point, N.C.
The lawsuit says Magniflex this week also exhibited the Bellagio mattress at the World Market Center in Las Vegas, which through Friday is having its weeklong Las Vegas Market event for furniture industry sellers and buyers.
"Magniflex announced its Bellagio mattress long after Bellagio began selling mattresses and after Bellagio filed its trademark application for the Bellagio marks for mattresses," the lawsuit charges.
"Magniflex's use of the Bellagio mark for mattresses is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive as to the affiliation, connection, or association between Magniflex and Bellagio, or as to the origin, sponsorship, or approval of Magniflex's mattresses by Bellagio," the hotel-casino's lawsuit asserts.
Magniflex says it is one of Italy's and one of Europe's largest foam mattress manufacturers.
It has a plant in Prato, Italy, 6 miles from Florence. The Bellagio hotel-casino, which opened in October 1998 at a cost of $1.6 billion, overlooks a lake inspired by Northern Italy's Lake Como.
The suit seeks a court order blocking Magniflex from using the Bellagio trademark.
Inspired by the beautiful villages of Europe, the AAA Five Diamond Bellagio overlooks a Mediterranean-blue, 8 ½-acre lake, where fountains perform a magnificent aquatic ballet choreographed to music and lights.
Within Bellagio are award-winning dining experiences including two AAA Five Diamond restaurants, Julian Serrano's Picasso and Le Cirque from the renowned Maccioni family.
Bellagio is home to an impressive collection of luxury retailers including Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Tiffany & Co., Breguet, Prada, Fred Leighton, Chanel, Dior, Fendi, Bottega Veneta, Hermès and OMEGA.
A world-class art gallery, the exquisite Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, the stunning “O” by Cirque du Soleil, a luxurious spa and salon, dynamic nightlife at The Bank, Hyde Bellagio and Lily Bar & Lounge and an elegant casino all add to the extraordinary Bellagio experience.
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