NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 07/30/09 -- Balestriere Lanza PLLC announced today that
its client, the Gameologist Group LLC (Gameologist), a New Jersey based and
minority-owned small business, filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court
against Scientific Games, Inc. (Scientific) seeking to prevent Scientific
from deliberately infringing on the BLING BLING Trademark. This is the
second such lawsuit that Gameologist has filed against Scientific for its
infringement on the BLING trademark.
Gameologist developed the lottery scratch-off game BLING BLING(TM) (the
Mark) and duly registered the Mark with the United States Patent and
Trademark Office in 2003. At that time, Gameologist met with
representatives of Scientific Games and signed a three year license
agreement with MDI, a wholly owned subsidiary of Scientific, covering the
BLING BLING trademark and the family of BLING Marks. According to the
Complaint filed last month, Scientific pretended that it was not interested
in the Mark by terminating the License Agreement, only to utilize the Mark
impermissibly without entering into a licensing agreement with Gameologist
-- infringing on Gameologist's protected intellectual property on several
BLING games with several State lotteries.
According to the lawsuit, in April of this year the New Mexico Lottery
released a new instant scratch-off game called "Spring Bling" which
utilizes the dominant trademarked word BLING. This game was developed and
sold to the New Mexico Lottery by Scientific Games. Gameologist's first
suit against Scientific contains similar allegations based on Scientific's
development of an instant scratch-off game called "BA-DA BLING," which was
sold to, and subsequently released by, the New York Lottery, and its
development of an instant scratch-off game called "$50,000 BLING," which
was sold to, and subsequently released by, the Georgia Lottery.
"Gameologist plans to fully enforce and capitalize on its legal rights to
the BLING mark," said Gameologist's lawyer, Craig Stuart Lanza of
Balestriere Lanza PLLC. "Once again, Scientific has willfully infringed on
the trademark rights of The Gameologist Group. This small company is due
millions of dollars in damages under the Lanham Act for all of Scientific's
clear infringements on the BLING Mark. We look forward to pushing both of
these cases to trial to obtain justice for Gameologist, and to give large
companies pause before they try stealing intellectual property developed by
small, hard-working companies simply trying to pursue the American dream."
Lanza added, "Scientific's own code of business conduct states that
Scientific Games will compete and win customers and their trust through
fair competition and will not use improper or illegal means to gain
competitive information that is confidential or proprietary to others. We
plan to pursue all infringements vigorously and to ensure that Scientific
abides by the standards it has set for itself."
Scientific Games (NASDAQ: SGMS) is a gaming company that focuses on
printed products, lottery systems, and diversified gaming. Scientific Games
is a major player in the gaming industry, with a market capitalization of
approximately $1.7 billion and approximately 6,000 full-time employees.
According to MDI's website, a subsidiary of Scientific Games, over three
and a half billion pull-tab lottery tickets have been printed to date for
more than seventy lottery jurisdictions, the value of which is
approximately $12.7 billion. Scientific, through its subsidiary MDI, has
worked with lotteries across the world, including the New Mexico Lottery,
to develop and print lottery tickets.
Gameologist Group LLC is a New Jersey based, minority-owned game design
company specializing in casino style games and gaming products.
Balestriere Lanza PLLC is a trials and investigations law firm. They
represent individuals, companies and institutions in criminal and civil
matters in trial and appellate courts, in intense negotiations, during
arbitrations, and before grand juries, securities regulators, and
government agencies. The firm is unique: unlike most firms, they combine a
complex and sophisticated litigation background and hard-nosed negotiation
experience with the willingness and ability to push cases to trial and win.
Their offices are located at 225 Broadway, Suite 2900, New York, NY 10007.
Craig Stuart Lanza
212.374.5404
225 Broadway, Suite 2900
New York, NY 10007