Playtech sued for patent infringement

Three other defendants are foreign companies operating online gambling sites, including Empire Online.

Austrian company Lubar and its CEO, Yaakov Rafaeli of Rishon LeZion, have filed a lawsuit with the Tel Aviv District Court against Playtech Cyprus Ltd. for patent infringement relating to its system and method for remote online gambling at actual casinos. Playtech, controlled by Teddy Sagi, develops technology for online gambling sites and provides services to online gambling operators.

Lubar has named three other defendants: foreign companies operating online gambling sites, including Empire Online Ltd. (AIM: EOL), controlled by CEO Noam Lanir.

According to the claimant, before the development of the system and method of online gambling at actual casinos, gambling was carried out at virtual gambling sites, with the results calculated by the website’s computers. The claimant says its invention was the first to make possible online gambling at an actual casino, where the operator was a real person, and where the results of the game were determined by where the roulette ball fell.

The claimants allege that they have parallel patents in the US and Australia, that they were applying for patents in European and other countries, and that they were acting to enforce their patent rights worldwide.

No statement of defense has been filed yet.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on March 16, 2006

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2006

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