Aristocrat Reaches Settlement in IP Dispute with Former Employee

Amid the ongoing battle between Light & Wonder (L&W) and Aristocrat, the latter company settled an intellectual property lawsuit in Australia with one of its former employees who is also named in the legal challenge over L&W’s Dragon Train game.

The Former Employee Agreed to Pay Financial Compensation

Last week, Aristocrat confirmed that it reached a settlement in its dispute with Dinh Toan Tran, a former long-term employee of the company. Per the leading gaming company’s announcement, the settlement was “on favorable terms” as the former employee acknowledged copying sensitive intellectual property. As a part of the settlement, Tran “has agreed to pay financial compensation to Aristocrat,” a statement reveals.

Trevor Croker, Aristocrat’s CEO and managing director, spoke about the company’s relentless goal to innovate the sector. He added that Aristocrat’s intellectual property is vital for its continuous success which is why the company is prepared to protect the efforts of its talented team members. Finally, Croker said: “We welcome this positive outcome, which follows the decisive action we took to ensure the preservation of Aristocrat’s valuable IP assets.”

“Our intellectual property is therefore vital to our ongoing success, and we are committed to protecting the great work of our dedicated creative and technical teams.“

Trevor Croker, CEO and managing director at Aristocrat

The Legal Battle Between Aristocrat and L&W Continues

Tran resigned from his long-term role at Aristocrat back in December 2023. According to the announcement about the company’s settlement with the former employee, ahead of his resignation, he “copied a substantial volume of Aristocrat’s sensitive and valuable intellectual property, including trade secrets, onto external USB storage devices.”

Resigning from Aristocrat, Tran agreed to join the team of the company’s competitor, L&W, once the required period under his non-compete clause passes. Suspecting the former employee of collecting sensitive information, including trade secrets, Aristocrat submitted an urgent ex parte application with Australia’s Federal Court, allowing it to secure injunction and search and seizure orders against Tran as a way to safeguard its intellectual property.

Under the settlement, Tran acknowledged his actions and agreed to pay his former employer compensation. Details regarding the particular cost of the compensation were not publicly available.

Earlier this month, amid the looming legal battle between Aristocrat and L&W, the latter company confirmed the ongoing development of a new legally compliant Dragon Train game. The company’s CEO, Matt Wilson, revealed that the litigation against the company’s Dragon Train game focuses only on a “small portion of the overall game.” Thus, Wilson said that L&W is developing a 2.0 version of the popular game that is in compliance with a recent preliminary injunction secured by Aristocrat in the legal battle.