Mobile gaming company Skillz wins $43 mln patent verdict against AviaGames

Firy

09/02/2024 22:12

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      Skillz accused AviaGames of copying mobile gaming-platform
technology
    

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      AviaGames separately accused of misusing 'bots' in money
games
    

  
    By Blake Brittain
       Feb 9 (Reuters) - A jury in San Jose, California, on
Friday awarded mobile-gaming platform maker Skillz  SKLZ.N 
nearly $42.9 million from rival AviaGames after a week-long
patent infringement trial.
    The jury agreed with Skillz that AviaGames had infringed one
of its patents willfully, which could lead the presiding judge
to multiply the damages by up to three times the initial award.
    Skillz's general counsel Andrew Dahlinghaus called the
verdict a "step in the right direction to promoting fairness in
our industry." Attorneys for AviaGames did not immediately
respond to a request for comment on the verdict.
    Skillz's platform enables multiplayer competitions in mobile
gaming. It sued AviaGames for patent infringement in 2021,
alleging that AviaGames' Pocket7Games app was a "copycat" of its
platform with "knockoff" versions of its games.
    The lawsuit said that AviaGames stole its technology after
launching a failed game on Skillz's platform in 2016. A Skillz
attorney said during opening statements at the trial last week
that AviaGames copied the technology as part of a "plan to kill
Skillz," according to a court transcript.
    AviaGames denied the allegations. Its attorney had told the
jury that its technology works differently than Skillz's, and
that Skillz, "a direct competitor, doesn't like our success." 
    Las Vegas-based Skillz told the court last year that it had
separately uncovered evidence that AviaGames used bots to "rig"
its cash games. AviaGames, which has denied the claims, later
received a grand-jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's office
in New Jersey over the allegations and has been hit with a
related class-action lawsuit in California.
    Skillz and another mobile-gaming company, Big Run Studios,
have also sued AviaGames for copyright infringement in a pending
case in Northern California.
    
    The case is Skillz Platform Inc v. AviaGames Inc, U.S.
District Court for the Northern District of California, No.
5:21-cv-02436.
    For Skillz: Lazar Raynal, Chris Campbell, Jessica Benvenisty
and Matthew Wood of King & Spalding
    For AviaGames: Jerry Riedinger, Nathan Sabri and Wendy Wang
of Perkins Coie; Ajay Krishnan of Keker Van Nest & Peters
    
    Read more:
    US judge delays mobile gambling patent trial for criminal
investigation

 (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)