Are Trademark Violations being condoned by Casino Affiliate Programs?

[The Dude]

Reward - for the person who correctly identifies who the webmaster is of this domain: aussiecasinomeister.com

Normally, if someone violates my intellectual property (Casinomeister), I send an email to the affiliate programs who are being promoted there - and these affiliate programs have taken swift action against rogue affiliates - usually by closing their accounts (as per their posted affiliate terms and conditions). This cuts down on lawyers' fees, and is actually quite effective.

Yet this time, things seem to be a bit different. I have notified the following affiliate programs - those of which that are being promoted on the offending site:
Referback
Fortune Affiliates
Wagershare
FocalClick

The manager of each one of these programs has told me either that they would not get themselves involved - Wagershare even referred me to WIPO (!). Focalclick told me they were looking into this. So much for having a 13-15 year business relationship with each one of these programs.

But what makes me livid as hell is that each one of these affiliate programs has a term that was mutually agreed upon between the affiliate and the program:

Any form of traffic that is generated from any medium that is aimed at children, promotes violence, promotes discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age, promotes illegal activities, or violates intellectual property rights ... constitutes a breach of agreement.

Where was the due diligence? Any webmaster signing up at one of these programs is required to submit his or her domains, right? Why did these slip by?

And why isn't this term being enforced?

You would think that an affiliate program with a 15 year business relationship with someone would enforce this term against an intellectual property thief.

So anyway, I'm hoping that someone here will come forward and identify the person or person(s) behind aussiecasinomeister.com. Thanks!

This should be interesting.

Actually I posted this at Facebook - and have some pretty interesting leads. But I'm posting this here as well since we have a different audience.

 

[PaaskeDenmark]

I don't know why but have bad feeling that it will be someone who is an active member here at Casinomeister. I have found a bit but only that seems it would be England - Kent area. I have couple contacts as we;; who might be able to find more info. But I am sure Mesiter Bryan will have much more than me in no time

 

[mattsgame]

Reward - for the person who correctly identifies who the webmaster is of this domain: aussiecasinomeister.com

Normally, if someone violates my intellectual property (Casinomeister), I send an email to the affiliate programs who are being promoted there - and these affiliate programs have taken swift action against rogue affiliates - usually by closing their accounts (as per their posted affiliate terms and conditions). This cuts down on lawyers' fees, and is actually quite effective.

Yet this time, things seem to be a bit different. I have notified the following affiliate programs - those of which that are being promoted on the offending site:
Referback
Fortune Affiliates
Wagershare
FocalClick

The manager of each one of these programs has told me either that they would not get themselves involved - Wagershare even referred me to WIPO (!). Focalclick told me they were looking into this. So much for having a 13-15 year business relationship with each one of these programs.

But what makes me livid as hell is that each one of these affiliate programs has a term that was mutually agreed upon between the affiliate and the program:



Where was the due diligence? Any webmaster signing up at one of these programs is required to submit his or her domains, right? Why did these slip by?

And why isn't this term being enforced?

You would think that an affiliate program with a 15 year business relationship with someone would enforce this term against an intellectual property thief.

So anyway, I'm hoping that someone here will come forward and identify the person or person(s) behind aussiecasinomeister.com. Thanks!

This should be interesting.

Actually I posted this at Facebook - and have some pretty interesting leads. But I'm posting this here as well since we have a different audience.

Since Casinomeister is trademarked then yes these programs should be doing something. If it was not and just another generic portal I do not think you would have to much leg way.

I only work with 2 of the 4 programs you mentioned and even the 2 I am currently working with I am watching carefully, since Elliott left Focal click they seem to be very slow at responding to issues. If Elliott was still there I have no doubt he would have sorted this for you. As for the 2 I do not work with, this does not surprise me at all.

The link profile of that site above is well spammy as hell.

The same person also has a few other domains:

1. xhttp://freeaustralianslots.com/x
2. xhttp://pokiesfinder.com/x - this one makes me laugh Registered Trademark of GamingMedia (yet they don't respect others)
3. xhttp://australianonlineblackjack.com/x

Have not found who owns it as yet but will keep digging

Edit: I forgot to add and I cannot remember how I linked it now but this site xhttps://freebnc.co.uk/x came up in my travels.

 

[PaaskeDenmark]

I found some as well MAttsgame.

I found connection as well to this website which might bring us even closer

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

 

[pokeraddict]

There is no doubt in my mind that most affiliate programs and the industry as a whole do not care about this problem. I covered two incidents last year where online gaming affiliates copied my work and that of others word for word on their news sites and presented it as their own. One went so far as to publish an article of mine in their magazine without permission or attribution. When approached privately about the situation, neither responded, so I wrote a column about them.

One cared so little about the content theft that he sent a lawyer after me, not even bothering to remove the obviously copied content first. To the best of my knowledge, most or all of the advertisers of each site in question remained.

I am happy to support any cause that draws attention to the problem. I feel that affiliate programs should not be supporting these sites that try to profit off the hard work of others.

Edit: These are just two extreme examples of content thieves. I sent emails/DMCAs to a dozen or so others in the past year that quickly removed the offending content.

 

[Igor82]

You can order domain tools llc history report for 49$.

That will give you registrar info history before domin privacy was bought.

I think I have pokiesfinder in the system but I'll have to check from the office tomorrow

Igor

 

[spintee]

maybe this might lead you somewhere?

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

 

[mattsgame]

maybe this might lead you somewhere?

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This is why I referred to it having spammy links. They have 100's of blog links and what appears to be a few links hacked into sites.

 

[ThePOGG]

CM please keep me updated with regard to this one - I'll pull links to any program that does not take action against this site. Not acceptable behaviour at all. I'm due to have a over due conversation with focal click (they're waiting on a response from me) about taking on my Deposit Guarantee seal so I really hope that they are taking this seriously.

Thanks

ThePOGG

 

[P.V.]

Looks like hacked links to me too. Here's this sites info: Outdated URL (timeout)

I'd be looking at the AU site's using CasinoMeister within their descriptions for their sites, I've seen a few.

Oh BTW - The about Sturan page has another domain that goes to the same page. XXhttp://XXwww.australianonlineslots.com/

Same layout as the link CM provided.

 

[MillyOfLeValley]

Reward - for the person who correctly identifies who the webmaster is of this domain: aussiecasinomeister.com

Normally, if someone violates my intellectual property (Casinomeister), I send an email to the affiliate programs who are being promoted there - and these affiliate programs have taken swift action against rogue affiliates - usually by closing their accounts (as per their posted affiliate terms and conditions). This cuts down on lawyers' fees, and is actually quite effective.

Yet this time, things seem to be a bit different. I have notified the following affiliate programs - those of which that are being promoted on the offending site:
Referback
Fortune Affiliates
Wagershare
FocalClick

The manager of each one of these programs has told me either that they would not get themselves involved - Wagershare even referred me to WIPO (!). Focalclick told me they were looking into this. So much for having a 13-15 year business relationship with each one of these programs.

But what makes me livid as hell is that each one of these affiliate programs has a term that was mutually agreed upon between the affiliate and the program:



Where was the due diligence? Any webmaster signing up at one of these programs is required to submit his or her domains, right? Why did these slip by?

And why isn't this term being enforced?

You would think that an affiliate program with a 15 year business relationship with someone would enforce this term against an intellectual property thief.

So anyway, I'm hoping that someone here will come forward and identify the person or person(s) behind aussiecasinomeister.com. Thanks!

This should be interesting.

Actually I posted this at Facebook - and have some pretty interesting leads. But I'm posting this here as well since we have a different audience.

Thing with affiliate programs, more often than not, as long as they're making money they won't budge and will merely turn a blind eye to transgressions like this.

On the trademark issue, there was a recent article that came out in South Africa about how Polo which has high-end stores all over the country is not associated with the US Ralph Lauren brand AT ALL.
This company has a very similar logo and runs with the word Polo in exactly the same font as the Ralph Lauren brand.
What transpired is that this Polo company has the LOCAL trademark in South Africa so they can use it in the country and Ralph Lauren is actually not allowed to sell any of its products in the country.
Theres a similar story in South Africa with the American brand JCrew.
Theres a company that owns the JCrew Local trademark and many consumers have purchased from there on the premise that it is the US Brand.

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

I'm not sure how things work everywhere else so not sure if a local trademark can come into play in this issue.

Its situations like these that make things sticky and down right unfair that someone is piggybacking on the strength of your trademark that you built up to what it is.
Hope you get it resolved.

 

[P.V.]

Thing with affiliate programs, more often than not, as long as they're making money they won't budge and will merely turn a blind eye to transgressions like this.

On the trademark issue, there was a recent article that came out in South Africa about how Polo which has high-end stores all over the country is not associated with the US Ralph Lauren brand AT ALL.
This company has a very similar logo and runs with the word Polo in exactly the same font as the Ralph Lauren brand.
What transpired is that this Polo company has the LOCAL trademark in South Africa so they can use it in the country and Ralph Lauren is actually not allowed to sell any of its products in the country.
Theres a similar story in South Africa with the American brand JCrew.
Theres a company that owns the JCrew Local trademark and many consumers have purchased from there on the premise that it is the US Brand.

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

I'm not sure how things work everywhere else so not sure if a local trademark can come into play in this issue.

Its situations like these that make things sticky and down right unfair that someone is piggybacking on the strength of your trademark that you built up to what it is.
Hope you get it resolved.

It's a thin line for sure, here's a good read on Trademarks:

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[Simmo!]

... I have found a bit but only that seems it would be England - Kent area.

Kent used to be lovely - known as the Garden Of England - but you may be right: we now have a shanty town called Tonbridge which is full of people who might do this sort of thing.

 

[Igor82]

WhoIS Report

What i could dig up for you so far:

View attachment AussieCasinoMeister-com-2014-05-10.pdf

It's not much-but it's a start.The site isnt on our affiliate database unfortunately.

I would suggest you start by reaching out to namesilo.com to shut the site down and to limenex for the same reason. perhaps they can (or cannot) disclose purchaser but they can definitely do something about copyright infringement.

Igor

 

[Igor82]

Kent used to be lovely - known as the Garden Of England - but you may be right: we now have a shanty town called Tonbridge which is full of people who might do this sort of thing.

Kent is the location of his server company:

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

- might have nothing to do with the culprit.

 

[premiergaming]

It seems that the Aussie Casinomeister is one of the new sites from this Affiliate. So maybe the affiliate programs do not even know about this as he or she may have just added the same trackers as on there other sites which means there affiliate managers wont know.

 

[Igor82]

Message from homerbert:

hello
i can't post in this thread: Link Outdated / Removed , post it from me pls, thanks.

i do some job, and here is easiest way to catch him
1. Outdated URL (Invalid)

owner can not be identified by no any ways.

But i decide to analyze sites, which linked on this site, and after few checks and clicking on links, i found that he has even network of such sites, few examples:

Outdated URL (Invalid)
Outdated URL (Invalid)

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

Outdated URL (Invalid)
and more, more, more, almost all for same casinost, BUT:

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

here is your chance, there is 32red / mr.green.

Hope it helps

Igor

 

[Igor82]

and a message from osulle

Hi Igor, I have been following this thread intently as I find this whole situation quit alarming. Anyway this morning I looked up the info on whois for the aussiecasinomeister and found the same info as you. The Phoenix, AZ address listed is a UPS store so I am sure it's just a mailbox there and the phone number is a VOIP from New York. I can't post in the thread but if you could post this for me I would appreciate it. So the servers are in Kent and address is in AZ and phone number is NY. This guy is very good at covering his tracks. I hope he gets found the miserable SOB that he is.


Thanks Igor

 

[Simmo!]

Outdated URL (Invalid)

Another brand rip-off.

I wonder if this is linked to that thing recently where some d!ck was hacking Wordpresss sites - he copied the design of Casino Choice and this site above looks similar in style.

 

[chayton]

Another brand rip-off.

I wonder if this is linked to that thing recently where some d!ck was hacking Wordpresss sites - he copied the design of Casino Choice and this site above looks similar in style.

Some of those wordpress sites had hacked themes they put up to free sites or on torrent sites so anyone who downloaded and used them were prehacked.

That casinoman site sidebar...



but there's also an email address at the bottom, so in that way it doesn't look the same as the others.

 

[bonustreak]

I am shocked to say the least that these long time Microgaming affiliate programs are not helping but then again almost everyone of them that you have listed have gone to the shady side themselves. Back in the day we
all had each others backs in this industry & it sickens me to see Bryan treated like this by those very same programs who at one time or another have ran to him for help!
This ass clown is no doubt bringing them massive amounts of traffic & new players so they don't want to get involved..

Focal I am a bit shocked if they do not help, I think out of all of them Chris will make sure this person is slapped, and the affiliate account is closed.

Igor your really a great person for looking so much into this & 32 Red I know will be in Bryan's side here! There are some good Micrograming brands around with good morels & integrity!!

 

[maphesto]

xaussiecasinomeister.comx is now redirected to xhttp://exquisitecasinos.com/x

Something might have changed between the affiliate and one of the affiliate programs.

 

[K2C]

It's not just a redirect. The exquisitecasinos.com domain was registered yesterday:

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

So they just changed the web address, changed the copyright string in the footer and preserved the rest of it I believe. Here is the google cache of aussiecasinomeister.com as of May 9

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

All the affiliate links seem to be the same too. For example, for Royal Vegas casino the old link was aussiecasinomeister.com/au/royalvegas and the new one is exquisitecasinos.com/au/royalvegas and they both lead to au.royalvegascasino.com/aff/aus/btag-ad484870

 

[paul@bgo]

We just wouldn't pay them until they stopped being childish. Sad fact is Bryan that many of the smaller operators are more focussed on exposure rather than quality of traffic, so they probably won't care

 

[The Dude]

I was away this weekend, and at the moment have a lot of material to comb through. Thanks to my fellow webmaster snoops, I'm piecing a lot of this together. It's not the work of one affiliate - it's a company as far as I can tell. A company that seems to have carte blanche to do whatever they want. If that's the case, well so be it. But if there is any hint of anything Casinomeister-like, it won't be happy tunes for them.

As a side note, I am really surprised that more webmasters have not done anything to protect their own brands. There are scores of them - BonusStreak, KasinoKing, AskGamblers, CasinoCity, etc., etc., and they are all sitting around like sitting ducks that sit. It would take a crew of black hat SEO f***ers to ruin their day. Seriously, am I the only one who has a (more or less) protected brand?