After most of its patent claims against daily fantasy sports giants FanDuel and DraftKings and other defendants collapsed due to being too abstract, Cantor Gaming renewed its efforts against eight mobile and online gaming providers.
In a 68-page federal complaint filed separately against FanDuel, DraftKings, Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, 888 Holdings, Big Fish Games and Zynga, Cantor Gaming attempts to reassert it claims for willful infringements of its patented online and mobile gaming technologies.
In its complaint against FanDuel, Las-Vegas-based Cantor Gaming says the DFS giant, which last month announced a merger with co-defendant DraftKings, violates six patents.
In a 14-page partial motion to dismiss filed on Nov. 30, though, FanDuel says Cantor Gaming once again has made claims for which there is no relief.
Cantor Gaming had several claims of willful patent infringement against FanDuel dismissed due to FanDuel not having notice of the patents prior to the lawsuit’s filing.
Cantor Gaming reasserts those claims in its amended complaint, but FanDuel says there is no “new basis” for the willful infringement claims.
Those infringement claims involve U.S. Patent Numbers RE39,818, 8,641,511, 6,884,166, 8,771,058, 9,355,518 and 9,306,952.
Cantor Gaming says it sent a letter to FanDuel on July 15, 2014, which notified FanDuel of the claimed patent infringements and sought to reach an agreement. Cantor Gaming says they did not reach a deal, and FanDuel continues infringing upon its patents.
In its first claim for relief, Cantor Gaming says FanDuel infringes upon its RE39,818 patent for a Personalized Wireless Video Game System by “purposefully directing, promoting, encouraging and causing the use of the accused systems by its end-user customers in a manner that it knows infringes the RE’818 patent.”
FanDuel argues it does not infringe upon the RE39,818 patent, and says the personalized information is stored on a server and not the memory of a personal game controller.
“Plaintiffs should not be permitted to bootstrap their infringement claim to their allegations,” which require “strong personalized information,” including “user age” and other user information, FanDuel argues.
“User’s personalized information” is “not found anywhere” and “user information is stored on a server” and not a portable game controller, FanDuel says in its motion to dismiss.
Cantor Gaming also accuses FanDuel of violating its patented Real-Time Interactive Wagering on Event Outcomes by allowing clients to open a gaming account in which money is placed and used to play games.
FanDuel’s system manages account funds, fulfills users’ requests to enter opposite sides of a game and is obligated to pay game winners, which Cantor Gaming says violates its 8,641,511 patent.
Cantor Gaming also says FanDuel’s system violates its 6,844,166 patent for a System and Method for Establishing a Wager for a Gaming Application by allowing a user to generate an offer that is presented to others, one of whom will accept it and form a game between the two users.
Other infringement claims are for Patent Numbers 8,771,058 for a Zone-Dependent Payout Percentage, 9,355,518 for a Gaming System with Location determination, and 9,306,952 for a System and Method for Wireless Gaming with Location Determination.
FanDuel argues Cantor Gaming can’t “provide any plausible mapping of even an exemplary claim” of infringement against FanDuel’s gaming products, and FanDuel “cannot plausibly infringe them.”
FanDuel also says the “server-based wagering systems where players can place bets with each other … shares the same specification and drawing as the other patents in its already-invalid family.”
FanDuel wants the court to dismiss all infringement claims at “meritless” other than RE39,818.
Meanwhile, Cantor Gaming seeks compensatory damages plus interest and compensation for ongoing and future infringements. It also wants the court to rule FanDuel willfully infringed the patents and order it to pay for increased damages.
Cantor Gaming has similar claims in its amended complaints against other online gaming firms.
