Vetnos, LLC v. SidePrize LLC,Civil Action No. 1:23-cv-02746-WMR (N.D. Ga., June 20, 2023)

Vetnos, LLC, (“Vetnos”) has filed suit in the Northern District of Georgia for patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation.

Vetnos alleges that SidePrize LLC, a competing fantasy sports company, infringed on their patents and misappropriated their trade secrets. According to their Complaint, Vetnos’ work in developing the technology behind new fantasy sports games has made them “innovators” in the industry. Dkt. 1, at ¶ 4. As alleged in the Complaint, SidePrize LLC released a system in 2018 based on a fixed-odds format for daily fantasy sports called PrizePicks. Id. at ¶ 11. The patents at issue are U.S. Patent Nos. 10,353,543, 11,157,147, and 11,579,754. Vetnos alleges SidePrize LLC infringed their patents by “intentionally copying and incorporating the patent-protected Vetnos Technology into the PrizePicks product.” Id. at¶12. Further, to support its claim for willful infringement, the Complaint asserts the founder of PrizePicks stated, “We liked your game so much, we decided to copy it.” Id. at ¶ 1.

The trade secret claim is based on an allegation that SidePrize hired a former employee of Vetnos’ predecessor, Game Sports Network (GSN), who was familiar with Vetnos’ technologies. The Complaint alleges that the former employee “secretly sent confidential information concerning the Vetnos Technology to his personal email account in breach of his confidentiality obligations.” Id. at ¶ 2.

Vetnos brings patent infringement claims for each of the three patents and misappropriation of trade secrets claims under Federal and Georgia law. The case has been assigned to Judge William Ray.