Bally Gaming Inc, the Las Vegas gambling empire, has accused an Ohio software developer who creates gambling apps, of patent, copyright and trademark infringement of its three card poker video games.
Bally filed suit Monday in the federal court in Los Angeles against Carey Richardson who runs The iApp Shop. Bally’s accused Richardson of infringing its patent on Three Card Poker, Three Card Poker Progressive and Pair Plus games allegedly featuring Bally’s designs and layout.
Bally said it has owned since 1996 the copyrights to Three Card Poker, and since 2005 has held a patent for the multiple player, interactive electronic game machine.
The company has developed electronic versionss of its games for use by online casinos, social gaming sites and mobile applications. The suit alleges Richardson has muscled in on that market with his iApps Shop.
In addition it has held a tradmark design depicting Three Card Poker since 2000, according to the lawsuit.
The suit accuses Richardson of creating online applications, or apps, identical to, or very similar to the Bally’s competing versions.
The complaint alleges Richardson’s apps are “likely to deceive, confuse and mislead purchasers” and prospective buyers into believing the apps he sells were developed or authorized by Bally’s.
This is a big financial problem for Bally, the suit claims, by pointing out that 39.6 million visitors went to Las Vegas to gamble in 2013 and 26 percent of them came from Southern California.
In addition, California has the largest Indian gambling casino market in the country with 60 casinos garnering $6.9 billion in revenue in 2013.
Bally licenses its patented games to the Indian Gaming Casinos throughout Southern California, according to the complaint.
Case: Bally Gaming Inc v. Richardson, No. 14-5634
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