Judge denies motion in dispute

Thursday, May 23, 2002 | 11:09 a.m.

A federal judge denied demands by Las Vegas casino supplier Shuffle Master Inc. of Las Vegas to stop rival gaming supplier Vendingdata Corp. and its subsidiaries from selling card shufflers Shuffle Master claims infringed on its gaming patent.

Shuffle Master, which said it owns a patent for a machine that shuffles multiple decks of playing cards, sued to stop Vendingdata and its subsidiaries Casinovations Inc. and Casinovations Sales Inc. in U.S. District Court in March from selling card shufflers.

But Vendingdata accused Shuffle Master of misappropriating its trade secrets for the Random Ejection Shuffler (RES) -- an automated gaming system that randomly ejects playing cards from a group of vertically stacked unshuffled cards.

Vendingdata said Shuffle Master tried to block its attempts to introduce RES technology in the market after Shuffle Master failed repeatedly to acquire the technology.

U.S. District Judge James Mahan denied on Monday Shuffle Master's request for a preliminary injunction, saying it "hasn't shown irreparable harm."

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