A third Light & Wonder roulette game has been added to Evolution’s renewed lawsuit related to the infringement of its Lightning Roulette patents.
Filed in the Nevada District Court, Evolution has included 88 Fortunes Blaze Live Roulette, previewed at the 2024 Global Gaming Expo and launched in January, alongside Roulette X and Power X.
In February, Judge Cristina Silva dismissed the initial lawsuit, which focused on Roulette X, explaining that she believed the patents around the Lightning Roulette game were too vague to be enforceable.
In the new suit, Evolution has clarified its arguments around the patents to address Silva’s concerns.
Botched deal
At the heart of the case is Lightning Roulette, a live casino roulette product that combines mechanically generated game values with electronically generated game values in the form of ‘Lucky numbers’ that are assigned to certain numbers each game and offer greater payouts.
The lawsuit claims that Evolution entered an agreement with Light & Wonder and subsequently shared trade secrets relating to the game to develop Lightning Roulette for retail casinos, however, the deal fell apart before Light & Wonder launched Roulette X.
As a result, Evolution claims that Light & Wonder has engaged in “wilful and malicious misappropriation” of the patents that surround the game to develop competing live roulette games with “strikingly similar” features.
The suit states: “Evolution will be irreparably harmed if [Light & Wonder] is permitted to continue to manufacture, import, use, offer to sell and/or sell systems.
“Evolution will be forced to compete against the very technology that it spent significant times and resources researching, developing and bringing to market.”
Extended damages
Following the release of 88 Fortunes Blaze Live Roulette, Evolution sent a letter threatening further legal action to Light & Wonder in February, then added its concerns about the game, which is said to be operational at at least two live dealer studios, one in the US and one in Europe.
Evolution is seeking to prevent Light & Wonder from offering these games, treble damages, and return profits Light & Wonder obtained from offering the games in question.
In her motion dismissing the case, Silva allowed Evolution to amend its complaint but did express doubts about their success given the failures she found in the enforceability of Evolution’s patents.
Light & Wonder has not commented on the latest lawsuit, as it has a policy of not commenting on active litigation.