High Court Strikes Out Entain Copyright Claims In Matched Betting Case
The High Court has struck out copyright infringement claims brought by Entain against the operators of matched betting websites Outplayed.com and OddsMonkey, though the operator's separate trademark claims in the case remain intact, according to Solicitors Journal.
Mr Justice Cawson, ruling in the Intellectual Property List of the Chancery Division in Entain Operations Limited & Ors v Liquidity Trading Limited & Ors, found that Entain's pleaded case failed to properly identify who owned the copyright in its sports betting operators Ladbrokes, Coral, Sportingbet and other brand logos, or what was original about the current versions of the decades-old designs.
Defendants challenged ownership, not use
Entain, regarded as one of the world's largest sport betting and gaming groups, sued the "parasitic" matched betting sites last year for trademark and copyright infringement over their use of the group's logos and website screenshots to link users through to operator bonuses.
The defendants did not dispute that the trademark claims were properly pleaded, but argued the copyright claims should be struck out because Entain failed to identify the relevant works' authors, publication dates, or how ownership had passed between claimant companies.
The judge agreed the pleading was "fundamentally deficient" on the question of title to sue, noting that several logos - including those for Ladbrokes, bwin, Sportingbet and Gala Bingo - appeared to have been designed by third-party agencies rather than Entain's own staff, undermining its claim to sole ownership.
He was also unimpressed by Entain's admission, made 11 months into proceedings, that it was still in the process of obtaining the necessary copyright assignments.
Trademark claims still alive
Entain has a short window to replead its copyright claims if it wants them to survive, according to further reporting on the ruling.
Its core trademark infringement claims against the matched betting sites, however, remain fully in play, with the defendants themselves accepting those claims were adequately pleaded and raised issues with a real prospect of success at trial.
