NEW YORK – July 12,2024 – Global law firm Greenberg Traurig litigators obtained a favorable ruling for Vetnos LLC (Vetnos) July 9 when Judge William M. Ray, II in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia adopted a Report and Recommendation by the Special Master denying PrizePicks’ motion to dismiss the case Vetnos has brought against the company. The decision affirms the validity of the patents asserted by Vetnos and confirms that Vetnos’ complaint stated a claim for misappropriation of trade secrets against PrizePicks.
On June 20, 2023, Vetnos filed the complaint alleging that PrizePicks, one of the largest daily fantasy sports providers in the market, was infringing Vetnos’ patents and misappropriating Vetnos’ valuable trade secrets. The three patents at issue in the case relate to systems for presenting fixed-odds, skill-based games. Specifically, Vetnos’ patents cover systems for providing daily fantasy sports games in which fans can test their sports knowledge and prediction skills and win prizes that are known, or “fixed,” in advance, and which differ from the pari-mutuel (e.g., head-to-head) format of traditional fantasy sports games.
Vetnos, a B2B sports-tech company and pioneer in the gamification of athlete-based content in the U.S. market, applauds the order that notes, “PrizePicks has failed to establish that [Vetnos’] Asserted Patents are abstract.” In adopting the Special Master’s Report and Recommendation, the court agreed that there was “nothing in the record” to indicate that the content of Vetnos’ claims was “well-understood or routine in the fantasy gaming industry before” Vetnos’ patents were issued, and, with respect to Vetnos’ trade secret misappropriation claims, the court agreed with the Special Master’s finding that Vetnos’ complaint “sufficiently represents” not only the “existence of a trade secret” but also “alleges misappropriation of its trade secrets by PrizePicks under the GTSA and the DTSA.”
According to Vetnos’ complaint, the claims of trade secret misappropriation by PrizePicks occurred after it hired a key technical employee from Vetnos. The complaint also alleges that the CEO of PrizePicks admitted that “we liked your game so much, we decided to copy it.”
The Greenberg Traurig team representing Vetnos is led by Scott J. Bornstein, senior vice president of the firm, co-managing shareholder of the New York office, and co-chair of the Global Intellectual Property & Technology and Global Patent Litigation Groups. Other attorneys on the team include Shareholder Gregory S. Bombard and Associate Kathryn E. Albanese.
"Vetnos is the pioneer of fixed-odds fantasy sports gaming. We are pleased that the court recognized the inventive nature of Vetnos' patent portfolio and denied PrizePicks’ effort to invalidate the patents,” Bornstein said. “We look forward to moving the case forward to trial."
Bombard added, "We're pleased the court also rejected PrizePicks' motion to dismiss Vetnos' trade secret claim, which alleges that a former employee took a job at PrizePicks and used Vetnos' valuable trade secrets to offer the PrizePicks fixed odds fantasy sports product."
About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP has more than 2750 attorneys in 47 locations in the United States, Europe and the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. The firm is a 2022 BTI “Highly Recommended Law Firm” for superior client service and is consistently among the top firms on the Am Law Global 100 and NLJ 500. Greenberg Traurig is Mansfield Rule 6.0 Certified Plus by The Diversity Lab. The firm is recognized for powering its U.S. offices with 100% renewable energy as certified by the Center for Resource Solutions Green-e® Energy program and is a member of the U.S. EPA’s Green Power Partnership Program. The firm is known for its philanthropic giving, innovation, diversity, and pro bono. Web: www.gtlaw.com.