U.S. District Court Stays Antitrust Trial and Allows for Immediate Appeal of Summary Judgment Rulings Against IGT in Patent Infringement Case With Bally
RENO, Nev., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In a pretrial conference on October 22, 2008, Judge Robert C. Jones of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada indicated that he intends to stay the proceedings and certify his summary judgment rulings for immediate appeal in the pending patent infringement case between International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT) and Bally Technologies, Inc. The trial date of November 4, 2008, on Bally's antitrust counterclaims against IGT has been vacated.
"The Court recognized it would be fundamentally unfair to make IGT defend the antitrust counterclaims following the Court's issuance of what it called 'just a tentative ruling... tentative because it's from me and not from the appellate court.' Therefore, the Court decided to stay the proceedings and vacate the trial date," said Dave Johnson, IGT's Executive Vice President and General Counsel.
The IGT Wheel/Bally iView case involves patents covering bonus wheel gaming machines and certain features of player tracking systems. In the summary judgment rulings issued on October 16, 2008, certain of IGT's patents had been found invalid and/or not infringed. These rulings and an earlier order relating to interpretation of terms and phrases defining the inventions are the matters being certified for an immediate appeal by IGT.
"Judge Jones indicated that a review of his decisions by a specialized patent court in Washington, D.C., the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, 'will help resolve the dispute,' and that the parties 'need a final ruling so that [they] can conclude the trial and litigation.' The Federal Circuit will review these recent decisions and the earlier Markman ruling de novo or as if they were being presented for the first time," said Johnson. "IGT looks forward to this appeal and remains very confident in its case."
IGT (www.IGT.com) is a global company specializing in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and sales of computerized gaming machines and systems products.
Statements in this release, which are not historical facts, are "forward looking" statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although IGT believes that the expectations reflected in any of its forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from those projected or assumed. IGT's future financial condition and results of operations, as well as any forward-looking statements, are subject to change and to inherent known and unknown risks and uncertainties. IGT does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.
Information on risks and factors that could affect IGT's business and financial results are included in our public filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
