A slot machine battle is playing out between two industry giants, and the stakes could not be higher.
Slot machine makers have kept gamblers hooked with new innovations ever since the days of the “one-armed bandits” that required a lever be pulled to set reels of fruit, bells or other symbols spinning.
But a patent dispute is raising questions about who’ll get the payout for inventing key features of new digital games with names such as Black Widow, Cherry Mischief, Cirque Chinois and Haunted Hearts.
An appeals court is considering whether Konami Holdings Corp. is entitled to patent protection for what gamblers see when they “spin” the reels on a computerized slot machine. A federal judge invalidated the company’s patents, saying nothing was inventive about the idea, but International Game Technology Plc (IGT), the biggest maker of slot machines, has inserted itself in the dispute, saying a loss for Konami could bring all patents on slot machine games into question.
More about this slot machine battle can be found at Bloomberg.
