A Nevada District Court judge has largely denied Light & Wonder’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought against the company by rival Aristocrat Gaming.
Lawsuit centers on Dragon Link and Jewel of the Dragon slots
Aristocrat filed the suit in March, alleging that Light & Wonder ripped off its popular Dragon Link game with its own game, Jewel of the Dragon.
In addition to alleging copyright infringement, the suit also accused the company of misappropriating trade secrets. Aristocrat alleges that its former employee, Emma Charles, went to work for Light & Wonder and helped to create Jewel of the Dragon by divulging protected information about the Dragon Link project she previously worked on.
Light & Wonder moved to dismiss the entire suit, arguing Aristocrat failed to demonstrate sufficient evidence the violations had taken place.
Court allowing majority of suit to move forward
For the most part, the court disagreed with Light & Wonder’s assertions. The judge said that Aristocrat showed sufficient evidence that misappropriation of trade secrets occurred in addition to sufficient grounds to move forward on the copyright infringement claims as well.
Where the court did side with Light & Wonder was on the subject of trade dress, which is the practice of mimicking intellectual property with the intent to confuse consumers into believing it is the same good or service. The court dismissed this portion of the lawsuit on technical grounds that Aristocrat’s description of the elements involved in the charges did not qualify as “fair notice” to Light & Wonder.
The court also dismissed the part of the suit regarding deceptive trade practices because Aristocrat failed to adequately explain its claim. Both of these dismissals were done with leave to amend, meaning that Aristocrat does have the opportunity to revise its complaint to address those issues in the future.
Aristocrat “pleased” with the ruling
“Aristocrat is pleased the court has upheld a number of its substantive claims in this ruling and will continue to strongly protect its IP,” an Aristocrat spokesperson told SBC Americas.
Light & Wonder declined to comment on the pending litigation.
The judge also lifted the stay on discovery on this case, which means that part of the process should be moving forward shortly.
