According to social media, sports betting pioneer Joe Brennan Jr. is currently in Las Vegas attending the Bet Bash conference. Where he definitely is not is in court as part of an ongoing patent dispute between Vetnos Technologies and PrizePicks.
PrizePicks is hoping a judge can remedy that fact by compelling Brennan to respond to a subpoena PrizePicks issued regarding the pending suit.
The Vetnos/PrizePicks lawsuit is fundamentally a patent dispute in which Vetnos claimed a former employee took a job with PrizePicks and brought along confidential technology and information. The group first filed the suit in 2023 and a judge denied a motion by PrizePicks to dismiss the case, though the scope of the suit has been limited since the case began.
How does this involve Prime Sportsbook founder Brennan?
According to court documents filed by PrizePicks, the company believes Brennan can provide discovery materials pertinent to the case thanks to his role as co-founder of Line Gaming Holdings Corporation, which later rebranded to GSN.
Court documents in the suit repeatedly refer to GSN as the predecessor to Vetnos. Several of the patents in questioned are tied to GSN.
PrizePicks is hoping Brennan can shed light on his time at GSN as well as how the specific GSN game HotRoster utilized those patents. The subpoena also wants materials related to FastPick, a game offered by a company Brennan founded in 2014 called Sport A.D.
PrizePicks argues that how these various technologies and companies utilized the patents in question are crucial to the company’s defense.
Brennan has ghosted PrizePicks so far?
Problem is, Brennan has, to date, refused to respond to the subpoena, at least according to PrizePicks.
After attempts to deliver the subpoena via email, PrizePicks personally served Brennan with papers at his Virginia residence on July 17. Upon confirmation of receipt, PrizePicks has reached out numerous times to try to connect, but told the court Brennan has not responded to a single piece of communication.
Accordingly, PrizePicks has filed a request in the Eastern Virginia District Court to compel Brennan to appear in the case, which is being adjudicated in the Northern Georgia District Court. The court has ordered Brennan to appear on Sept. 5 for a hearing on the matter.
PrizePicks argued in documents that Brennan’s participation is particularly necessary because Vetnos has not provided enough material in the discovery period, a common complaint from parties during this period of a court case.
“Any documents or information Mr. Brennan has are especially critical to PrizePicks’ case, considering Vetnos has failed to produce comparable documents despite multiple requests,” the request to compel noted.
Both PrizePicks and Brennan declined to comment on the new paperwork.
