PrizePicks hit with Georgia lawsuit over alleged patent infringement

PrizePicks has been slapped with a patent and trade secret infringement lawsuit in Georgia by B2B sports technology company Vetnos LLC.

The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District Court of Georgia, centers on three patents filed in 2014 and 2015 relating to technology used in fixed-odds to oversee financial and performance risk, technology similar to that used by sports betting operators.

Vetnos, a white-label technology company, operates daily fantasy sport (DFS) gaming and Class II gaming (as defined under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act) and is currently in the process of launching with tribal operator partners in California.

Vetnos operates off of its own technology stack and includes sports betting, player props and race products with fixed-odds, and parlay-based gaming.

The lawsuit alleges that after several unsuccessful attempts to agree a partnership that would allow PrizePicks to license Vetnos technology, PrizePicks copied the technology covered under the patents.

The case documents suggest PrizePicks’ head of company relations and market intelligence, Steven Kerstein, who worked for Vetnos’ previous company Game Sports Network (GSN), aided in the appropriation, therefore naming him in the lawsuit.

“By copying the Vetnos Technology, PrizePicks was able to launch a fixed-odds daily fantasy sports game and learn to effectively manage the risk associated with offering such a game without engaging in the significant trial, error, and loss that Vetnos’ predecessor engaged in to develop the Vetnos Technology,” the suit states.

Kerstein moved from GSN into a consulting role with PrizePicks in 2018 before assuming his current role. Vetnos has asked the court to enforce payment of lost profits, associated interest, royalties, and additional damages for the alleged infringement.

In a statement confirming the complaint, Vetnos co-founder Dan Orlow took aim at PrizePicks over their alleged conduct.

“We apprised PrizePicks of our concerns for several years in an effort to resolve this matter amicably, but unfortunately PrizePicks refused to respect our IP rights, so we were left with no option but to seek help from the court system,” Orlow said.

Vetnos’ lawyers, Greenberg Traurig, represented by Scott J. Bornstein, highlighted the importance of the case to the firm and its willingness to see out any litigation.

“Vetnos has invested substantial time and resources into its intellectual property. Vetnos fully intends to enforce its rights against infringers like PrizePicks,” Bornstein said.

In a statement reported by Legal Sports Report , PrizePicks chief legal officer and head of public policy Jason Barclay angrily fired back at Vetnos’ claims, branding them as unwarranted.

“After years of trying unsuccessfully to get us to buy its technology and intellectual property, Vetnos has now apparently resorted to a frivolous lawsuit to change our minds. That is not a good business or legal strategy,” Barclay said.

“We intend to aggressively defend against this lawsuit and point out its many errors and outright falsehoods,” he added.

PrizePicks has until July 11 to respond to the Vetnos lawsuit.

The case continues.