IGT Has Bonus Wheel Slot Patent Thrown Out of Court

Written by Kaus | Sunday, November 16th, 2008

It appears that IGT, (International Game Technology) and Bally Technologies are at it again with over a dozen patent infringement lawsuits in place and antitrust claims against each other in the courts. The constant bickering between the two companies on “stealing” each other’s ideas has gone to the next level with gaming expos seeing not only the two companies showcasing their newest products, but having intellectual property lawyers in tow to check out the competition and seeing if they are in violations.

Last month IGT had one of their pending lawsuits thrown out of court by a Las Vegas judge over the very popular Wheel of Fortune bonus wheel slot which they claimed that Bally’s took their idea for their “Reel Winners” slot machine. The judge in the case took their patent away from them that covered the bonus wheel, although IGT is expected to appeal this ruling since this will now allow anyone to come up with a bonus wheel slot machine similar to IGT’s and market it with a new name or worse yet, the casino’s start building their own slot machines.

The bonus wheel slot machines are one of the top sellers in any casino, and add extra excitement with the additional jackpots you can win. Once the pay level criteria have been met, the symbols align and award the player with a spin from the bonus wheel.

Many slot makers offer similar kinds of slots including online slots software developers for online slots including Wagerworks which has their own form of the Wheel of Fortune slots.

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