Macau’s Court of First Instance has ruled that two electronic table game patents held by entities linked to gaming technology provider LT Game Ltd “must be declared null and void,” according to a translation of the ruling seen by GGRAsia.
The lawsuit named LT Game and Natural Noble Ltd as well as Jay Chun, the founder of LT Game, as the holders of two Macau patents for certain gaming equipment.
The plaintiffs were seeking damages from entities now controlled by gaming and technology supplier Light & Wonder Inc, namely: Shuffle Master Asia Ltd; Shuffle Master Asia Ltd; and Shuffle Master Inc.
A LT Game representative told GGRAsia on Monday that it has submitted an appeal against the court’s ruling.
The plaintiffs were seeking to prevent the defendants from infringing on what the plaintiffs said were their patents in the Macau market, “as well as to enforce civil liability arising from the infringement of the respective patent rights”.
In their counterclaim, the defendants alleged that the LT Game-related patents should be considered “null and void,” since the alleged inventions on which they were based did “not meet the legal requirements for patentability”.
In the ruling dated July 30, the court stated that the facts showed that, “prior to the granting of the registration, a professional in the sector could logically deduce the innovative effect” of the patents “from known technology”.
“These proven facts completely refuted the patentability of the inventions on which the granting of the patents in question was based, especially with regard to the requirement of inventive step, i.e., the inventions claimed in relation to patents I/380 and I/150 were clearly derived from the prior art by a professional in the sector and therefore lacked sufficient technical advancement,” wrote presiding judge Chan Chi Weng.
The document added: “Once the requirement of inventive step has been ruled out, patents I/380 and I/150 can never be subject to patent protection, which also constitutes grounds for declaring the industrial property rights – including the patent – granted under Article 47(a) of the Macau Industrial Property Code null and void.”
Aside from ruling the two patents null and void, the court also ordered the “cancellation” of their respective registration. The plaintiffs must cover all legal costs.
According to publicly-available information, one of the patents has already expired, while the second – which covers the use of multiple terminals for electronic casino table games that involve a human croupier – is set to expire in October next year.
In Macau, an invention patent is protected for 20 years from the filing date of the application, as per the existing legislation.
The court case is part of a wider pending dispute dating back to 2009. LT Game disputes SHFL’s right to sell in the Macau market. multi-game electronic table games with a live dealer and involving baccarat. SHFL has over the years strongly defended what it said were its legitimate commercial rights in the Macau market.
Light & Wonder – formerly known as Scientific Games Corp – inherited the intellectual property of SHFL Entertainment Asia when it took over Bally Technologies Inc in a US$5.1-billion deal in November 2014. A year earlier, Bally Technologies had bought SHFL Entertainment Asia’s parent, SHFL Entertainment Inc, in a US$1.3-billion transaction.
