GGRAsia – Wynn agrees deal on look of Genting Vegas resort

Wynn agrees deal on look of Genting Vegas resort

Jan 29, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

A legal row that threatened to stop work on the Resorts World Las Vegas casino resort being developed by Malaysia’s Genting group in Las Vegas, Nevada, has been settled.

Genting said that – regarding the design of the scheme and claims by Wynn Resorts Ltd that Genting had infringed its “trade dress” rights in terms of the look of the new project – the Malaysian group had made “several changes that will clearly differentiate” it from Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Las Vegas.

A press release on the agreement was issued on Monday by Wynn Resorts. The firm said it was a joint announcement with Resorts World Las Vegas. An updated rendering of the Genting design (pictured) was included in the release.

Michael Weaver, chief communications officer, Wynn Resorts, was quoted in the document saying: “The new design changes offered by Genting will resolve the concerns we expressed about the similarity of the design.”

He also noted: “Wynn Resorts’ world-renowned signature architecture and design are among the elements that have built our brand’s reputation for excellence. Resorts World Las Vegas’ initial design had elements which had similarity to our resorts in Las Vegas, Macau and Boston.”

A Wynn Resorts motion for an injunction via a United States court – applied for on December 27 – had sought to stop work on the Genting site, described in reports as a US$4-billion project.

Wynn Resorts had also sought exemplary and punitive damages for the alleged infringement of rights it claimed.

A Genting Bhd filing to Bursa Malaysia on January 11 said, regarding the Wynn Resorts injunction request, said the move had sought to bar “further installation or construction of the curved, bronze windows or horizontal banding” on Genting’s site that – according to Wynn Resorts’ side – constituted “a portion of the unique and famous Wynn design”.

The construction plot is across the road from Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Las Vegas.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, the two sides had been due to argue the design issue in front of U.S. District Court Judge Gloria Navarro on Tuesday.

Michael Levoff, senior vice president of public affairs and development for Genting, was quoted in Monday’s joint statement as saying: “While the company believes the design to have had differences with Wynn and Encore’s once fully realised; after further consideration and conversations with the Wynn team, we have directed our design team to make several changes that will clearly differentiate the two properties.”

A Monday memo from analyst Samuel Yin Shao Yang, of Maybank IB Research, part of Malaysia’s Maybank Investment Bank Bhd, noted regarding the updated design for Resorts World Las Vegas: “The revised rendering is simpler and neater with no giant Chinese lantern hanging from the side of hotel towers. Note also that the revised rendering colours the hotel towers in scarlet red and not the maroon red that Wynn [Resorts] was ostensibly trying to copyright.”

Wynn Resorts’ Mr Weaver had said in Monday’s joint statement announcing resolution of the matter: “The new design changes offered by Genting will resolve the concerns we expressed about the similarity of the design.”

He added: “We welcome and look forward to Resorts World Las Vegas’ opening. Their future success will benefit all of Las Vegas.”