Judge: IGT Wheel Patent Invalid

A U.S. District Court judge in Nevada last month declared slot manufacturer International Game Technology’s patents covering the wheel-based bonus in Wheel of Fortune and other games invalid.

The presiding U.S. District Court judge in the patent infringement lawsuit between International Game Technology and Bally Technologies over Bally’s use of wheel-based bonus events stated in open court last month he intends to issue a written order declaring that the asserted wheel patents held by IGT are invalid. The order rejects IGT’s claims that Bally’s wheel-based games infringe on patents held by IGT.

The court also issued a written order invalidating certain claims of IGT’s player-tracking patents at issue in the case, and stating that Bally’s iVIEW display does not infringe certain claims. Other player-tracking claims may remain at issue, depending on the exact language of the written order.

The court reiterated that Bally’s antitrust claim against IGT could proceed to trial, and scheduled a hearing for October 22 to address the parties’ intentions regarding the remaining claims.