• Genting and Wynn meet in court on January 29
• Genting denies copyright claim by Wynn
• Wynn will seek to shut down the construction of Resorts World Las Vegas located at the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip
• Potential $169m in losses and 500 workers laid off cited

Malaysia-based Genting Berhad and Wynn Resorts are edging closer to a court battle which will begin on January 29. Genting is responding to a copyright complaint lodged by Wynn over the construction of the Resorts World Las Vegas, a property built across one owned by Wynn Resorts.

Wynn Resorts and Genting Berhad Officially Go to Court

After the initial tap dancing, threatening and standing one’s ground, the dust has settled and Wynn Resorts and Genting Berhad seem intractable in their resolve to continue as planned. Late last year, Wynn and Genting started arguing over copyright complaint lodged by the former.

According to Wynn Resorts, the newly-built Resorts World Las Vegas, owned by Genting and constructed across from Wynn’s own property, has been grossly copying the external design of Wynn and Encore Las Vegas towers – a claim Genting has disputed.

With the two companies preparing to fight in court, Judge Gloria Navarro from Nevada, has decided to give the companies a reprieve until January 29 during which construction at the Resorts World is temporarily halted.

Why Is Wynn Suing Genting?

Wynn Resorts Ltd. has seen in the Resorts World Las Vegas an open attempt to copy the design of the Wynn and Encore Las Vegas towers, and thus purposefully mislead customers that they are entering Wynn-branded property. In their complaint, Wynn stated:

The architectural design embodied in defendant’s Resorts World Las Vegas hotel and casino is substantially similar to plaintiff’s registered copyrighted architectural work, and therefore defendant is violating plaintiff’s copyrights in addition to plaintiff’s registered and common law trade dress.

Genting, however, has responded by arguing that Wynn has failed to provide “coherent or credible explanation” backing its claim. Genting has even filed a counter-complaint in which it presented arguments as to why construction mustn’t be halted.

Genting further explained in their response to Wynn’s complaint that the plaintiff, i.e. Wynn Resorts Ltd., was basing their opinion on extrapolation, and that – the final design of Resorts World would look nothing like the Wynn properties located just across from it.

The company has also cited financial reasons as to why construction should continue, explaining the potential loss of $169 million and 500 construction workers being laid off. The entire value of the Resorts World Las Vegas costs estimated $4 billion and the project is supposed to see the light of day in 2020.