A US district court ordered the gaming giants to arbitrate claims over alleged misappropriation of the Evolution Lightning Roulette tech.
Evolution must take its trade secrets claims against Light & Wonder to arbitration, a Nevada district court has ruled, while allowing patent infringement claims to proceed separately in court.
The gaming giants must now arbitrate claims over alleged misappropriation of Evolution’s Lightning Roulette tech.
It follows the court dismissing the claims in the original complaint in February, leading to the business refiling new claims in a subsequent document.
Judge Cristina Silva granted Light & Wonder’s motion to compel arbitration on 30 September, finding that the dispute falls under an arbitration clause in a 2021 licensing agreement between the companies. The original agreement had granted Light & Wonder exclusive rights to develop a physical version of Evolution’s Lightning Roulette game for land-based casinos.
Evolution filed suit in 2024, alleging that Light & Wonder misappropriated confidential mathematical files and trade secrets to create competing products including RouletteX, PowerX and 88 Fortunes Blaze Live Roulette. The complaint included claims for trade secrets misappropriation under federal and Nevada law, as well as infringement of five Evolution patents.
The court found that Evolution’s trade secrets claims arose out of or in connection with the licensing agreement, which contained a provision stating that any claim not resolved through negotiation “shall be finally settled under the Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce by three arbitrators”. The arbitration seat was designated as London.
Evolution carve-out argument rejected
Evolution had argued against arbitration, argued the licensing agreement contained a carve-out for disputes relating to licensed property, which it said included trade secrets.
However, Judge Silva found this interpretation unpersuasive.
The court ruled that the carve-out “does not provide that matters of IP infringement should not be subject to arbitration” but rather said it “should be governed by ‘laws of the territory where the IP is held and allegedly infringed.’”
The judge also declined to rule on Light & Wonder’s alternative argument that Evolution’s claims were time-barred under a 12-month limitations period in the licensing agreement, finding this question should also be decided by the arbitrator.
The patent infringement claims remain before the district court. The parties were ordered to appear for a status conference on 30 October to discuss how the arbitration ruling impacts the remaining claims.
Evolution had shared confidential information with Light & Wonder under non-disclosure agreements beginning in 2018, including mathematical files marked as company confidential that explained the underlying mathematics for Lightning Roulette’s multiplier and payout systems.