| Nevada – The
king of the castle inherits enemies. Slot machines giant
International Game Technology has found itself locked in a legal
battle with Bally Technologies, Inc. Bally is suing IGT in Nevada’s
US District Court for patent infringement. Bally claims many
popular slot machine products from IGT infringes on a patent
distributed to them by the United States Patent and Trademark
Office.
Bally has listed some of the top IGT slot
machines in this lawsuit, including: “Wheel of Fortune,” “M*A*S*H,”
“Megabucks with Morgan Fairchild,” “Regis On the Town,” “Sinatra,”
“Twilight Zone,” “Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “I Love
Lucy,” “I Dream of Jeannie,” “Elvira,” “Drew Carey Great Balls of
Cash,” “The Addams Family,” “American Bandstand,” “The Apprentice,”
“Dilbert Wheelbert.” The Bally lawsuit demands a court declaration
of infringement, monetary damages, as wells as preliminary and
permanent injunctive relief.
U.S. Patent No. 7,100,916, “Indicator Wheel
System”, was very recently issued to Bally. It relates to the use
of spinning wheel indicators in slot machine games, among other
things, and benefits from an October 2, 1992 original filing date.
“Bally has a 75-year history of developing
outstanding gaming products and has also acquired a number of
innovative companies and technologies,” explained CEO of Bally
Technologies Richard Haddrill. “The newly issued patent was
developed by Arcade Planet, a gaming company that Bally acquired
more than two years ago. Bally intends to aggressively prosecute
any infringement of this patent.”
●
Return to News
|
