Gametek LLC v. Facebook, Inc. et al
U.S. District for the Southern District of California
U.S. District for the Southern District of California
Case no. 3:12-cv-00501, Filed February 28,2012
Earlier this year, Gametek LLC filed several lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California against 21 companies including Facebook, EA, and Zynga. Gametek alleges that these entities infringe upon a patent for a virtual currency and payment system incorporating items bought and used in-game. Games that allegedly infringe upon the ‘445 patent include popular titles such as FarmVille, Mafia Wars 2, and Poppit! Sprint, to name a few.
The name GameTek was used by a video game publisher prior to its closing in1998. This publisher, based in North Miami Beach, Florida, created several video game adaptions of popular 90s game shows such as Wheel of Fortunate and Jeopardy!. The Gametek presently involved in this lawsuit, however, claims its place of business in Newport Beach, California, and does not appear to be the same entity. In fact, the current owner of the business license Gametek LLC has not produced a single game as of the writing of this post.
Activities of this apparent shell company may be unknown, however the last assignee of the ‘445 patent before Gametek was Theados Corporation, a company that claims to have developed “the world’s first Revenue Operating System.” Theados Corporation assigned the patent to Gametek LLC last year, and along with it, the right to sue for all past and present infringements. Gametek LLC seeks through this lawsuit to obtain damages, an injunction that would prohibit the defendants from infringing upon the patent, and attorneys’ fees.
