Company to challenge award
A U.S. judge has ordered gaming supplier Scientific Games Corporation to pay a total of $315 million in damages stemming from a jury award in an antitrust lawsuit involving the company’s prior claims to patents on shufflers.
The lawsuit was brought by Derek Webb, the legendary game designer who invented Three Card Poker, on behalf of four companies led by Shuffle Tech International LLC. Webb is no stranger to patent litigation, having collected $20 million from the former Shuffle Master (now part of Scientific Games) in connection with a separate case involving invalid patents.
Webb filed the antitrust lawsuit in the current case on behalf of Shuffle Tech and three other companies that have been involved in patent litigation against Scientific Games legacy companies Shuffle Master, SHFL Entertainment and Bally Gaming. The lead plaintiff was Shuffle Tech, which went bankrupt after Shuffle Master filed a patent infringement lawsuit in 2012 involving its automated shufflers.
The jury agreed with the plaintiffs’ claim that Shuffle Master’s lawsuits had been based on invalid patents. Under U.S. antitrust laws, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly of the Northern District of Illinois had the authority to triple the damages—which he did, ordering Scientific Games to pay Shuffle Tech International LLC $135 million, Poydras-Talrick Holdings LLC $75 million, Aces Up Gaming $45 million, and Shuffle Tech as an assignee of DigiDeal Corp. $60 million. Kennelly tacked plaintiff attorney and court fees onto the damages.
Scientific Games has pledged to appeal the ruling and the jury award, noting in a filing last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, “The company believes the jury reached the wrong result and will seek review of both the finding of liability and the damages award, both before the trial court and, if necessary, on appeal.”
Webb, 68, has been a thorn in the side of Scientific Games. In addition to last week’s ruling and his own settlements surrounding Three Card Poker, Webb won a lawsuit on behalf of an anti-gambling group against Scientific Games as one of the two manufacturers of Britain’s fixed-odds betting terminals.
In London, The Guardian reported that Scientific Games had offered a settlement the plaintiffs considered too low. “How could the defendant be so complacent, ignorant and arrogant that it could not find a way to offer a reasonable settlement to this bunch of nobodies?” Webb commented to the newspaper.
