International Game Technology Plc. announced that it has signed a cross-licensing agreement with Austria’s Novomatic Group, under which Novomatic will offer games including patented game features from the IGT portfolio, and will pay ongoing licensing fees to IGT.
Financial terms of the agreement are confidential. “We’re pleased with this opportunity to expand our creative capacity with this vast portfolio of game features,” said Thomas Graf, Novomatic’s CTO. “Reaching this cross-licensing agreement with IGT enhances our global expansion strategy with access to compelling product features that have proven to be successful in North America and international markets.”
IGT is the holder of the largest slot game feature patent portfolio in North America, and has already signed cross-licensing agreements with many of its top competitors.
“We welcome Novomatic to a comprehensive group of gaming industry leaders who have created a vast resource of game features patents,” said Michael Prescott, IGT senior vice president and general counsel, North America gaming & interactive.
“IGT’s collaborative effort to build upon North America’s largest slot game feature patent portfolio now encompasses a global patent pool that we believe can foster continued industry-wide innovation.”
