Slot supplier Aristocrat Technologies has achieved a significant legal victory in its case against Light & Wonder (L&W) concerning alleged infringement of Aristocrat’s intellectual property, including misappropriation of Aristocrat’s trade secrets in connection with L&W’s Dragon Train game.
On Sept. 23, Judge Gloria M. Navarro of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada issued a decision granting Aristocrat’s motion for a preliminary injunction on its trade secret claims against L&W. The court enjoined L&W from “any continued or planned sale, leasing, or other commercialization of Dragon Train.”
The court’s decision finds that Aristocrat is “extremely likely to succeed in demonstrating L&W misappropriated Aristocrat’s trade secrets in (L&W’s) development of Dragon Train.”
The court recognized that, by misappropriation of trade secrets relating to Aristocrat’s market-leading Dragon Link and Lightning Link games, L&W “was able to develop Dragon Train without investing the equivalent time and money.”
Dragon Train is one of many slots from various manufacturers that utilizes the “hold-and-spin” game mechanic that was pioneered by Aristocrat’s Dragon Link and Lightning Link games. This is, however, Aristocrat’s first legal claim to the feature as intellectual property. In granting the preliminary injunction, the court noted “the public interest in protecting trade secrets and preventing competitors from receiving an unfair advantage.”
