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SVL Cash Pot secures injunction and awaits mediation

Published:Friday | August 12, 2022 | 9:41 AM

Gaming and entertainment company Supreme Ventures Limited, SVL, says it’s waiting to proceed to mediation with rival market entrant Goodwill Gaming over a trademark dispute involving its subsidiary Prime Sports Jamaica Limited.

SVL has secured an injunction against Goodwill, the operator of Lucky Play, while the dispute is dealt with in court.

In an August 2 ruling, Supreme Court Justice Lisa Palmer ordered that Goodwill Gaming is prevented “from infringing PSJL Cash Pot trademarks and/or from passing off its Big Pot game as that of PSJL”.

The order further stipulates that Lucky Play cannot use in its business the “signs, symbols, get-up, advertisements and promotional materials similar to that of PSJL’s trademarks and PSJL’s Cash Pot logo”, and that it extends to “the use of the golden pot device with money spilling over and the green and gold scheme,” Justice Palmer ruled.

Prime Sports sought the court’s intervention in order to protect its “highly valued” intellectual property in the Cash Pot game, said Deputy CEO Heather Goldson.

“It was necessary to ensure that our intellectual property is protected, and that the equity that we have invested in building it is not appropriated and utilised for commercial benefit by any other entity,” Goldson said.

The case dates back to October 2021, when Prime Sports filed a Supreme Court claim against Goodwill Gaming, claiming trademark infringement and the passing off of the Big Pot game as if it were PSJL’s Cash Pot game. Passing off, in law, happens when one entity is found to be offering a product or service that has similar labelling or recognisable traits of an established competitor who was already providing the product or service.

Goodwill Gaming’s Ian Dear declined to comment on the injunction, saying he first needed to know more about the implications of the August 2 ruling. Goodwill Gaming was represented by Matthew Royal and Helen Liu of the law firm Myers, Fletcher & Gordon. The law firm did not respond to messages left with a representative of their litigation department.

Prime Sports was represented by Allan Wood QC, Kathryn Pearson and Analiese Minott of Livingston Alexander & Levy.

Jamaica’s gaming industry now has three players, with Mahoe Gaming and Goodwill Gaming having secured licences in 2021. SVL, which had been the sole lottery provider for more than 20 years, continues to hold around 97 per cent of the market, according to the most recent gaming industry statistics for 2021.

neville.graham@gleanerjm.com