Global law firm Greenberg Traurig litigators obtained a
favorable ruling for Vetnos LLC (Vetnos) July 9 when Judge William
M. Ray, II in the United
States District Court for the Northern District of
Georgia adopted a Report and
Recommendation by the Special Master denying PrizePicks' motion to
dismiss the case Vetnos has brought against the company.
NEW
YORK, July 12, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Global
law firm Greenberg Traurig litigators obtained a favorable ruling
for Vetnos LLC (Vetnos) July 9 when
Judge William M. Ray, II in
the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Georgia adopted a Report and Recommendation by
the Special Master denying PrizePicks' motion to dismiss the case
Vetnos has brought against the company. The decision affirms the
validity of the patents asserted by Vetnos and confirms that
Vetnos' complaint stated a claim for misappropriation of trade
secrets against PrizePicks.
On June 20, 2023, Vetnos filed the
complaint alleging that PrizePicks, one of the largest daily
fantasy sports providers in the market, was infringing Vetnos'
patents and misappropriating Vetnos' valuable trade secrets. The
three patents at issue in the case relate to systems for presenting
fixed-odds, skill-based games. Specifically, Vetnos' patents cover
systems for providing daily fantasy sports games in which fans can
test their sports knowledge and prediction skills and win prizes
that are known, or "fixed," in advance, and which differ from the
pari-mutuel (e.g., head-to-head) format of traditional fantasy
sports games.
Vetnos, a B2B sports-tech company and pioneer in the
gamification of athlete-based content in the U.S. market, applauds
the order that notes, "PrizePicks has failed to establish that
[Vetnos'] Asserted Patents are abstract." In adopting the Special
Master's Report and Recommendation, the court agreed that there was
"nothing in the record" to indicate that the content of Vetnos'
claims was "well-understood or routine in the fantasy gaming
industry before" Vetnos' patents were issued, and, with respect to
Vetnos' trade secret misappropriation claims, the court agreed with
the Special Master's finding that Vetnos' complaint "sufficiently
represents" not only the "existence of a trade secret" but also
"alleges misappropriation of its trade secrets by
PrizePicks under the GTSA and the DTSA."
According to Vetnos' complaint, the claims of trade secret
misappropriation by PrizePicks occurred after it hired a key
technical employee from Vetnos. The complaint also
alleges that the CEO of PrizePicks admitted that "we
liked your game so much, we decided to copy it."
The Greenberg Traurig team representing Vetnos is led by
Scott J. Bornstein, senior vice
president of the firm, co-managing shareholder of the New York office, and co-chair of the Global
Intellectual Property & Technology and Global Patent Litigation
Groups. Other attorneys on the team include Shareholder
Gregory S. Bombard and Associate
Kathryn E. Albanese.
"Vetnos is the pioneer of fixed-odds fantasy sports gaming. We
are pleased that the court recognized the inventive nature of
Vetnos' patent portfolio and denied PrizePicks' effort to
invalidate the patents," Bornstein said. "We look forward to moving
the case forward to trial."
Bombard added, "We're pleased the court also rejected
PrizePicks' motion to dismiss Vetnos' trade secret claim, which
alleges that a former employee took a job at
PrizePicks and used Vetnos' valuable trade secrets to offer the
PrizePicks fixed odds fantasy sports product."
About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP has more than
2750 attorneys in 47 locations in the
United States, Europe and
the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. The firm is a 2022 BTI "Highly
Recommended Law Firm" for superior client service and is
consistently among the top firms on the Am Law Global 100 and NLJ
500. Greenberg Traurig is Mansfield Rule 6.0 Certified Plus by The
Diversity Lab. The firm is recognized for powering its U.S. offices
with 100% renewable energy as certified by the Center for Resource
Solutions Green-e® Energy program and is a member of the U.S. EPA's
Green Power Partnership Program. The firm is known for its
philanthropic giving, innovation, diversity, and pro bono. Web:
http://www.gtlaw.com.
Media Contact
Leslie Kraft-Burke, Greenberg
Traurig, +1 954.468.1770, kraftburkel@gtlaw.com,
https://www.gtlaw.com/en
View original
content:https://www.prweb.com/releases/greenberg-traurig-prevails-for-vetnos-as-federal-court-approves-companys-lawsuit-against-prizepicks-to-move-forward-302196093.html
SOURCE Greenberg Traurig