LV company sues over gambling patent

Grace Leong

Tuesday, July 10, 2001 | 10:53 a.m.

A Las Vegas Internet gaming system developer sued to stop Macau casino mogul Stanley Ho and the operators of his Antigua-based website, DrHo.com, from infringing its online gaming patent.

Home Gambling Network Inc., a subsidiary of i2corp.com and which licenses gaming patents including the "268 patent" that allows players worldwide to play live casino games from a remote location, sued Ho and his son-in-law, Peter Kjaer, the website's chief executive officer, in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.

Other defendants include two companies controlled by Ho, Macau-based casino operator Sociedade DeTurismo E Diversoes De Macau (STDM) and Hong Kong-based ferry operator Shun Tak Holdings Ltd. Also named are a Canadian entity Eyeball, its subsidiary, Infranet Solutions and their three executives, Chris Piche, Shahadat Khan and David Marwood; and an Antigua-based operator of the website, Carribean Online Ltd.

Mel Molnick, Home Gambling's president, said he first heard about Ho's website in February through an online advertisement.

"DrHo.com violates all three aspects of the '268' patent because the site offers live casino games, and some of its players are located in Nevada and are paying electronically," Molnick said.

"To the best of my knowledge, Dr Ho is breaking Nevada gaming laws because he is taking the wagers of Nevada residents and his website can't take bets without first being licensed by the state of Nevada, and from Home Gambling which owns the patent rights," Molnick said.

But Kjaer, the website's spokesman, disputed the charges.

"Eyeball has developed the software for DrHo.com and that software doesn't infringe on HGN's patents," he said.