Aristocrat-Ainsworth IP infringement hearing switched to September

The Federal Court of Australia has set a new date of September 4 for the first case management hearing over an intellectual property rights infringement dispute between Aristocrat Technologies and Ainsworth Game Technology.

The Court had been due to hear the case today (July 17), but this has now been changed to later in the year, with both parties required to file and serve their defence to the statement of claim and any cross claim by August 28.

The Federal Court has not disclosed the reasons behind the switch.

Earlier this month, Aristocrat filed legal action against Ainsworth, accusing the gaming machines and content provider of infringing on its intellectual property rights.

Aristocrat cited a breach of Australian Consumer law, but Ainsworth denied the accusations, vowing to “vigorously defending the claims made by Aristocrat in these proceedings”.

Court papers on the filing have not yet been made available, but reports in the Australian media suggest the case is in relation to technology Aristocrat has developed for its Lightning Link slot machine.

Aristocrat has alleged that Ainsworth has used this technology in its own gaming machines.

September’s first case management hearing will commence at 9:30am local time in New South Wales.

Image: verkeorg