Eleven Online Casinos Running RTG Sued for Patent Violations

In the world of the internet there are some serious grey areas when it comes to intellectual property and patent infringements. A little known company Lottotron Inc. registered in Hackensack, New Jersey, USA has had it's share of patent infringement cases in court over the last few years. Some very high profile companies have been sued by the communications firm. Law suits claiming patent infringements have been filed in recent years against Microsoft, GTECH, Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, and others. Recently a patent infringement case was filed against as many as eleven online gambling operators located in the jurisdictions of Costa Rica and Curacao. News sources report that a number of Real Time Gaming software powered online casino firms have been threatened with legal action. Lottotron claims it owns a patented processes that these casinos and RTG are using without providing compensation to Lottotron Inc. The claim describes the patented process as, "A wagering system for accepting wagers over communications systems comprising (a) automatic call director means for receiving incoming messages from subscribers who with to wager on the system, b) message means connected thereto for receiving the incoming messages routed from the ACD, and for playing a series of recorded audio messages requesting subscriber wager information to be input via telecommunications means, and (c) host processor means having storage means and being connected to the wagering VRU for receiving the subscriber wager information, storing it in a master subscriber wager file in the storage means, and assigning an associated ticket number to the wager." A similar description was enclosed in the Lottotron, Inc. v. SBG Online Casino case filed in January of 2010 in a New Jersey court. With so many patent infringement cases before the courts filed by Lottotron Inc. this company looks a little like a lottery ticket purchaser just waiting for the big payoff by some online gambling operation or a giant firm like Microsoft with an offer of a settlement. It sounds like the company is fishing for a win with most of it's claims having been dismissed by judges thus far.