Light & Wonder 'disappointed' by court ruling on Aristocrat litigation
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The news: Light & Wonder said it is "disappointed" with a Nevada Court ruling that granted rival outfit Aristocrat a renewed motion to access math models for certain Light & Wonder games, as part of an ongoing legal battle between the two gambling machine makers.
The context: Under the motion, Aristocrat has permission to obtain discovery of math models for certain Light & Wonder hold and spin games released since 2021. The court previously denied a similar motion.
It comes after a US district court filed an injunction in relation to Light & Wonder's Dragon Train-themed poker machines last year, which Aristocrat said breached copyright for its own Dragon Link pokies.
In March, Aristocrat filed a second complaint with the District Court of Nevada, adding a trade secret misappropriation claim linked to Light & Wonder’s replacement games for Dragon Train.
The claim asserted that the replacement games for Dragon Train, including a social game called Dragon Train Grand Central, would still “reap the benefits” of trade secret misappropriation, even if none of the claimed secrets are used directly in the games.
Light & Wonder said that it had structured the development of new games to solve the issue raised by the use of certain math in the design of the original Dragon Train game by designer Emma Charles. Charles had previously worked with Aristocrat before joining Light & Wonder in 2021.
Light & Wonder previously confirmed that it will stop commercialising another game series, Jewel of the Dragon, while another unreleased game will not be put to market.
The litigation process is ongoing, with fact discovery is set to close on 15 December and expert discovery to close on 16 March 2026.
What they said: "While we are disappointed with the court's ruling, we remain confident, based on the expert review we previously disclosed, that there is no evidence of Aristocrat math being used in any commercially released games other than Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon," the company said this morning.
The source: ASX
