Copycats are not new in gambling. Even when slot machines were king, the cabinets were plastered with imagery of Cleopatra and Leprechauns as each supplier tried to stand out on the casino floor.
Now, land-based casinos are seeing a lot more diversity in their cabinets, but online casinos are struggling with the same issue of dupes, cookie-cutter originals and brazen IP infringement.
Global Gaming Insider sat down with Edward Carstairs, a Trade Mark Attorney with Gill Jennings & Every LLP (and contributor to Global Gaming Insider magazine), to discuss the direction the gambling industry seems to be going in.
What are the biggest lawsuits in gambling?
Two major ongoing lawsuits triggered this discussion.
The first is the very high-profile case between Light & Wonder and Aristocrat around the former’s Dragon Train title.
While L&W has admitted mathematical information from the latter was used in the development of the game and has ceased all commercial contracts globally, a new lawsuit has been submitted regarding Dragon Train.
Phi Hinney McDonald, a specialist litigation law firm focusing on group litigation and shareholder class actions, has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of shareholders who bought shares during the game’s development.
Secondly, Spribe recently won an interim injunction in Brazil after courts ordered a local operator to immediately stop using the “Aviator” trademark, as well as any visual, graphic or other elements that may be mistakenly attributed to Spribe.
The operator, Bentacional, has been an authorised licensee of Spribe since 2022. Despite this, the operator offered another “Aviator” game that caused legal issues.
Can copycats be stopped?
The first point that Carstairs emphasised was that copycats have been a long-running issue, and not just in the gambling industry. Dupes can be found across almost every sector, including food items, alcohol and even make-up.
In the UK alone, there have been several high-profile cases of trademark concerns over the past few years. These have included spats over cider packaging between Thatchers and Aldi, and of course, the notorious Cutherbert vs Colin the Caterpillar debate that was eventually settled out of court. 
In cases such as this, it is always beneficial if the brand owner can place pictures of the original and the copycat alongside one another to compare the similarities.
That being said, while copycats were not taken seriously beforehand, Carstairs argues that this is changing.
“The legal landscape has been shifting in recent years, certainly at least in the UK, in favour of the IP owners,” he tells Global Gaming Insider. “There have been a few decisions that would indicate that the scope of protection of registered rights is being interpreted more broadly, giving the rights owners a better chance of taking successful action against the copycats.”
What can the gambling industry do?
Lawsuits of any kind are expensive and Carstairs notes that one of the first things many potential clients ask him is: “Well, can we win?”
Much like Colin vs Cuthbert, there is a reason so many cases are settled out of court. Not only are legal actions costly, they are risky, too. If the original brand owner loses, they open themselves up to even more copycats; conversely, if they are seen ‘crushing the little guy,’ that can create negative PR. You can win the battle, but at what cost?
Carstairs explains this is the reason why the lawsuits we do see are played at such a high-profile level. It is easier to pay for one lawsuit that can then serve as a warning to others, rather than taking on every infraction with the same level of earnestness.
As for casinos, they run the risk of reputational damage if they engage with copycat products. If they are seen as platforming dupes, then established brands may be cautious about working with them, even if it is not their product at risk. If they do not protect licensing agreements with Spribe, for example, why would they uphold similar contracts with anyone else?
Curiosity killed the copycat
Of course, another point to consider is that copycats are an indication that you are doing something right. After all, everyone wants to copy the market leaders and no one is going to copy a product that is not performing well.
Carstairs explains: “For brand owners, it shows the benefit of filing and registering trade marks.
“It is much easier to enforce registered rights against copycats than trying to rely on unregistered rights because all you need to do to prove that that a registered right exists is to produce the registration certificate.
“As well as obtaining registered trade mark protection, brand owners are recommended to document the success they have achieved such as awards won, turnover, increasing customer numbers and so on, i.e. everything that speaks to a reputation.”
Is AI a threat to copyright?
Inevitably, Carstairs also commented on the threat of AI in potential future copyright cases.
He said: “When selecting a new brand, it might be tempting to engage AI in that process but it is also important to understand how that AI functions. The AI large language models will trawl what is available online to suggest brand names and logos.
“However, none of those are going to be original and are instead going to be based on what is already in existence.
“Therefore, this runs the risk of at least inadvertently creating a dupe/copycat which will draw the unwanted attention of the original owner.”
Global Gaming Insider explored this topic in more detail in a recent magazine feature.
Overall, copycats are unlikely to ever cease, even with high-profile cases such as Light & Wonder or Spribe dominating the headlines. It's just human nature, at the end of the day...
Which is why Carstairs argues that it is more important than ever for companies in the space to register their IPs to protect themselves from potential headaches in the future.
Even though there is a chance for brands to fight back under unregistered rights, it is up to each company to decide whether this is worth it or not. Equally, for studios that routinely publish games heavily inspired by others in the industry, it seems increasingly dicey.
The conflict between brand owners and copycats may feel like a game of “Whackamole” sometimes, but the hammer has to strike at some point.
Big Bass Bonanza, Sweet Bonanza and Book of Dead are some of the most copied games in the industry
