A Nevada District Court judge has dismissed Evolution’s lawsuit accusing Light & Wonder of stealing its Lightning Roulette idea for its own product, Roulette X.
Judge Cristina Silva granted Light & Wonder’s motion to dismiss, determining that the three patents Evolution invoked around Lightning Roulette are not enforceable.
Evolution alleged that Light & Wonder infringed on these patents after a deal to work together fell apart during which Evolution shared confidential information including the math behind Lightning Roulette. After the deal fell apart, Light & Wonder launched a similar game called Roulette X.
Judge concludes Lightning Roulette patents fail Alice test
Silva wrote that she did not believe that the patents lived up to the Alice test, which is a judicial benchmark to determine if a patent is valid. The two parts of the Alice test ask 1. Is the claim an abstract idea? and 2. If so, does the patent include additional elements that transform the abstract concept?
“L&W argues that Evolution’s patents are directed to abstract ideas because the Federal Circuit has consistently demonstrated that ‘wagering games’ are abstract ideas. It also argues that Claim 1 outlines the “basic steps of playing the wagering game roulette, an abstract idea [and] [u]sing a computer or processor to perform them does not make it any less abstract,” Silva’s opinion noted.
She was inclined to agree with that assessment of Lightning Roulette’s patents. She noted that the main patent “does not explain how any of the purported technical improvements work.” With that in mind, she conclued that the patent failed the first Alice question.
As to the second Alice question, Evolution argued that the random position selection and variable payouts available on Lightning Roulette constituted an inventive concept.
Silva disagreed.
“Evolution’s argument that the random position selection and advanced payouts are inventive concepts also fails because Evolution does not articulate how these advancements were well-known, routine, or conventional. Instead, it merely concludes as such,” she noted.
Evolution has the option to amend its complaint
Accordingly, Silva dismissed the case but did leave the option open for Evolution to amend and resubmit the suit in the future.
“It is unclear if the pleading deficiencies can by amended. Thus, I cannot say amenment would be futile.”
“We’re very pleased with the court’s ruling,” a Light & Wonder spokesperson told SBC Americas.
SBC Americas also reached out to Evolution for comment on the ruling but have not received a response at time of writing.
This wraps up one of two major copyright lawsuits for Light & Wonder. The other, involving Aristocrat and the slot title Dragon Link, continues to move forward after a judge denied Light & Wonder’s motion to dismiss.
However, while the U.S. judge ruled that Light & Wonder needed to remove Dragon Train from U.S. casinos, an Australian judge drew a different conclusion, rejecting the request for an injuction to offline the game.
