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May 9, 2005, 7:16 pm (9 comments)
Lottery and betting equipment maker Scientific Games Corp. said Monday that its subsidiary Scientific Games Royalty Corp. is suing GTECH Holdings Corp., the world's largest operator of lottery systems, for patent infringement.
The lawsuit concerns the enforcement of Scientific Games' group participation multiplier patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 6,648,753 and 6,692,354 and GTECH's unauthorized and illegal use of same.
Lorne Weil, Scientific Games' chairman and CEO, said, "It is our intention to vigorously protect our intellectual property whenever necessary. Many lotteries, the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) and International Game Technology have already signed license agreements concerning these patents in recognition of our legal rights and it is time for GTECH to do so."
Scientific said GTECH's systems for MUSL's Powerball Power Play and Keno Plus games violate its patents covering online lottery games that include an optional bonus wager. If a player who opts for the "bonus wager" wins a prize in the base game, the player's winnings get multiplied by a random amount.
The suit was filed in the Federal District Court in Delaware.
Scientific Games shares rose 39 cents to close at $21.73 on the Nasdaq, while shares of West Greenwich, Rhode Island-based GTECH climbed 22 cents to finish at $26.02 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Lottery Post Staff
A fantastic innovation: An algoritm with a RNG which multiplies winnings in a random manner!
An innovation which can be compared to the invention of the rader!
*sarcasm mode off*
They can patent anything these days.
Titans? I never heard of either of them knuckleheads.
Titans? I never heard of either of them knuckleheads.
Er, ah, well how do I put this? Your knowledge of the lottery industry may be somewhat limited if you don't know of either of those companies. Like a computer expert that has never heard of IBM.
In laymans terms, these companies pretty much have duopoly on the lottery terminal industry, GTech being the most dominant.
Next thing you know, someone will want a patent on their family birth days and will file a law suit to share the winnings if those numbers come up in a drawing whether they played them or not.
RJOh
Next thing you know, someone will want a patent on their family birth days and will file a law suit to share the winnings if those numbers come up in a drawing whether they played them or not.
RJOh
Hey that's a good idea - you should have kept quiet about it!
In laymans terms, these companies pretty much have duopoly on the lottery terminal industry, GTech being the most dominant.
Hence, in the words of the first sentence, "...the world's largest operator of lottery systems..."
anyone have any thoughts as to how this will play out?
Scientific said GTECH's systems for MUSL's Powerball Power Play and Keno Plus games violate its patents covering online lottery games that include an optional bonus wager. If a player who opts for the "bonus wager" wins a prize in the base game, the player's winnings get multiplied by a random amount.
If they win, I may take out a patent on planting seeds in the spring, all the farmers in my area do it, but nobody owns the patent on that idea as far as I know. I could collect royalties from all of them every spring. Some farmers have told me that if they save seeds from a hybrid plant, they have to pay royalties every time they plant those seeds. I've read about some companies holding a patent on DNA but I don't know who get the royalties when the families with that DNA create additional children. These patent laws are confusing.
RJOh