GGRAsia – IGT, Aristocrat reach cross-licensing IP agreement

IGT, Aristocrat reach cross-licensing IP agreement

Oct 04, 2016 Newsdesk Industry Talk, Latest News, Top of the deck

Casino suppliers International Game Technology Plc and Aristocrat Leisure Ltd separately announced this week that the two firms have reached a “comprehensive cross-licensing agreement” covering “intellectual property involving game features and system patents”.

The terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

In addition, IGT and Aristocrat also announced that the parties have agreed to settle all outstanding litigation between them. Neither company provided details on those legal disputes.

“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Aristocrat as we build upon our leadership in gaming innovation,” IGT chief executive officer for North America gaming and interactive, Renato Ascoli, said in a statement included in a press release.

He added: “This agreement demonstrates both companies’ shared commitment to investing in and preserving the value of intellectual property.”

“Turning ideas into value-adding innovation is core to Aristocrat’s mission to ‘create the world’s greatest gaming experience every day’. Our agreement with IGT will contribute toward this, and we are pleased to have finalised these arrangements,” Toni Korsanos, Aristocrat’s chief financial officer and company secretary, was quoted as saying.

U.S.-based IGT in April reached an agreement with Hong Kong-listed casino equipment maker Paradise Entertainment Ltd, for the latter to transfer all of its electronic table game technology, patents and other intellectual property to IGT, with the exception of table game intellectual property used exclusively in Macau.

For the second quarter 2016, IGT reported that group wide consolidated revenue grew by 1 percent year-on-year to US$1.29 billion.

IGT is the result of a US$6.4-billion merger – completed in April 2015 – between International Game Technology, a Nevada-based supplier of slot machines, and Italy-based lottery equipment specialist GTech SpA.

Australia-based slot machine maker Aristocrat said in May that its net profit after tax more than doubled in the six months ended March 31. “Performance was driven by further growth in share, average selling price and overall average fee per day across Aristocrat’s core segments in North America and Australia, together with continued earnings growth and record [numbers of] daily active users in the digital social gaming business,” Aristocrat stated at the time.