Owners of the Plaza casino and hotel in downtown Las Vegas, Tamares Las Vegas properties, have filed a lawsuit against the New York based Elad Group, who will be opening a $5 billion luxury hotel, residence and casino gaming complex using the name and likeness of Elad Group's original landmark New York City hotel, the Plaza. Claiming infringements against six different trademarks that Tamares has filed with the State of Nevada, the lawsuit was filed with the Clark County District Court on Thursday.

The Elad Group, which bought the 34.5 acres of land on which the New Frontier Casino and Hotel occupies for a record-breaking Strip price tag of $1.2 billion, says they have not been served the lawsuit yet and therefore do not have a comment. At this point, it does not appear that the lawsuit will interfere with any of the construction plans laid out by the Elad Group. The New Frontier is slated for demolition early in 2008, with construction immediately following and the questionably named "Plaza" complex to open by 2011.

Tamares Properties, who bought downtown casino back in 2004, says they will not idly sit by while their good name and reputation is "poached". The group further stated in the lawsuit that the Elad Group is poised to vanquish all business at their casino. And while the Freemont Experience Plaza Casino is a far cry from the luxury strip resort planned by Elad, the case does raise legitimate concerns that new patrons to Las Vegas may become confused by the two properties, with the lesser known downtown casino losing out on business as a result.

Tamares cited in the lawsuit how hard they have worked to establish a reputation of value for the Plaza Casino. The lawsuit also uses the large neon Plaza sign as an example of the name branding Tamares has used to fuel its commercial operations at Plaza. The fact of the matter is that Tamares appears to have a strong case while the Elad Group's connections to the Plaza name is integral to their new casino gaming complex, which will certainly be of more value to the Nevada economy than the ailing downtown corridor. It will certainly be a tough call.