Light & Wonder (L&W) voluntarily dismissed its copyright infringement lawsuit against Zeroo Gravity Games on Friday (25 October).
The California court action, which saw the Nasdaq-listed gaming supplier accuse its competitor’s mobile slot game of being a “blatant knock-off” of its own Rich Little Piggies: Meal Ticket offering, has now been terminated.
The suit was one of several infringement proceedings L&W was involved in, including Aristocrat’s Dragon Train lawsuit, as well litigation involving Evolution and its Lightning Roulette game.
a L&W spokesperson told NEXT.io: “In July 2024, Light & Wonder filed a lawsuit against Zeroo Gravity, claiming that one of its games infringed Light & Wonder’s copyrights in Rich Little Piggies.
“After the lawsuit was filed, Zeroo Gravity permanently removed the game and removed or modified several other games that Light & Wonder identified as violating its intellectual property rights. In light of these actions, Light & Wonder voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit.”
Zeroo Gravity had said it and Light & Wonder were “continuing to attempt to resolve the matter” in a late September court filing.
If the court action had continued, the developer’s response to L&W’s original complaint and summons would have been due 28 October.
Background to Zeroo Gravity infringement dispute
The dispute dates to July, when the Matt Wilson-led company accused Zeroo Gravity’s 3 Stuffed Swine game of stealing several protectable elements from its own game.
The complaint said: “3 Stuffed Swine is a shameless knock-off of Rich Little Piggies. [Zero Gravity’s] game goes well beyond mimicking Rich Little Piggies’ game mechanics, concepts and themes by slavenly reproducing numerous protectable elements from Rich Little Piggies, including the detailed nuances of Meal Ticket’s characters and the game’s carefully designed selection and arrangement.”
As such, L&W argued the court should grant an injunction to protect its copyrights and impound all copies of 3 Stuffed Swine, as well as award it damages and all profits resulting from the alleged infringement.