Gaming Platform Patent Suit Escalates With Bot Use Allegations

An intellectual property dispute between online e-gaming platforms boiled over after one company accused the other of covertly populating its platform with bots.

Skillz Platform Inc., a Las Vegas company that hosts tournaments where players compete at a variety of mobile games, sued competitor AviaGames Inc. in April 2021 alleging patent infringement. A few months later Skillz made separate accusations of copyright infringement and unfair trade practices.

For most of the first two years, the litigation proceeded in the US District Court for the Northern District of California without much fanfare.

But in May lawyers for Skillz got their hands ...