Slot machine firm files fakes suit against Chinese rival

A US manufacturer of coin-operated arcade machines – Jenka Lab – has filed a lawsuit against a Chinese company accusing it of illegally copying its gaming systems.

The case filed with a US district court in Gainesville, Georgia, by Jenka and Bronnikov Consulting – which owns the intellectual property for the software used in the amusement machines – claims that Guangzhou Crazy Software Technology is selling and distributing counterfeit, poor quality copies.

The suit refers to games including Aurora, Northern Light, Favourite Skill, Favourite Reels, Aurora Link, Northern Link and Nautilus, which are distributed by Jenka in the Georgia coin-operated amusement machine (COAM) market.

Crazy Software is accused of shipping knock-off machines directly to Georgia and attending trade shows to promote its machines, which according to the complaint equates to counterfeiting, trademark and copyright infringement, false designation of origin, unfair competition, and trademark and trade dress infringement.

The suit also says that Crazy Software misappropriated trade secrets, namely the source code and object code used in the games which is accessible only to employees under the terms of a confidentiality agreement.

The claimed infringement and misappropriation were discovered by Jenka and Bronnikov when they were preparing for a Las Vegas trade show due to be held later this month, and saw that it was promoting games that looked almost identical to their own products.

“Upon information and belief, the illicit games are the product of a third party, or defendant, unpackaging, decompiling, and de-obfuscating Bronnikov’s trade secrets,” according to court documents.

“Using this process, the third parties or defendant were able to gain access to Bronnikov’s multiple ‘library’ files, which contain Bronnikov’s proprietary source code and trade secrets.”

The suit is asking for an injunction on Crazy Software’s alleged illegal activity, plus triple damages, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, and recoupment of costs.