Rank and Gala Trademark Row
1st April, 2008
A trademark dispute has developed between two very influential gaming groups, Gala and Rank.
Following the launch of a chain of G Casinos, Rank is attempting to register the logo "G" as a mark. Unfortunately for them Gala have already registered the "G" as its own trademark and are refusing to let Rank continue with their development of the application.
Rank have been progressing fairly quickly with the expansion of the G brand, with four of the eventual 32 venues up and running and 2 more expected this year. Extra emphasis was put on the importance of the brand to Rank after they had to get rid of the Hard Rock Casino name following the sale of the Burger chain.
The dispute has come at a bad time for the industry as recently all the main players in the bingo industry have been working together in objection to the government's double taxation laws.
Rank own the Grosvenor casino chain and Mecca Bingo. Gala are partnered with Coral providing both sportsbetting and the well known Gala Bingo. They are the two largest bingo operators and are, obviously, in direct competition with each other. As yet it is unclear how Rank will act but there is little chance of either side compromising with such large amounts of money in question.
