Castle Hill Gaming has agreed to pay Video Gaming Technologies (VGT), a subsidiary of Aristocrat Technologies, a settlement of $3m over a trademark infringement lawsuit.
After more than two years of legal proceedings, the US District Court in Tulsa, Oklahoma, dismissed 19 of VGT’s 20 registered trademark claims against Castle Hill.
The lawsuit alleged Castle Hill infringed certain VGT trademarks, trade dress and trade secrets.
The $3m payment will be made with money from Castle Hill’s insurance policy.
Under the additional terms of the settlement, Castle Hill will no longer use game titles New Money, Arctic Cash, Arctic Ice and Welcome to Nugget Mountain, along with any associated artwork and characters and any variations of these games.
Castle Hill is a private start-up that supplies land-based gaming content to US tribal operators. It first installed its Class II electronic gaming machines into casinos in 2015.
Hector Fernandez, Aristocrat Technologies President, said: “This settlement again confirms VGT’s and Aristocrat’s determination to protect our intellectual property, including VGT’s Class II portfolio.
“We will continue to be proactive and aggressive in defending our assets going forward.”
Castle Hill Gaming's CEO, Arthur Watson, said: "We are thrilled with this David versus Goliath outcome. I believe that VGT and its parent company, Aristocrat, wanted to put us out of business because they saw us as a competitive threat.
“Our games are performing at par with their games in many of the casinos in which we compete. But we have survived, thrived and are entering new markets like Historical Horse Racing."
