The British bookmaker William Hill has reached a settlement of its lawsuit against US rival FanDuel, alleging that the latter used its “How To Bet Guide” copyrighted material without permission. The case was settled a week or two ago but it was made public Monday night.
According to a recent federal court filing, the case is now closed, with the US arm of William Hill having voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit. The court filing, however, did not provide any information about what actually happened between the two companies. Joe Asher, the Chief Executive Officer of William Hill, also did not reveal the amount which the operator is to receive from FanDuel. The British gambling company is not seeking any money to cover the litigation costs, too.
Still, Mr Asher revealed that some of the money will be used to fund creative writing programs at New Jersey universities, as well as programs aimed at gambling addiction treatment.
William Hill US announces it has settled its copyright infringement lawsuit against FanDuel over sports betting guide. Background: https://t.co/Sx9JTcWsMu pic.twitter.com/cmRunbGEfa
— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) January 15, 2019
The legal action was filed by William Hill US in October 2018, with the US arm of one of the largest UK-based global gambling operators accusing FanDuel in copying the above-mentioned guide literally word for word. The case, however, was voluntarily dismissed before the daily fantasy sports provider and bookmaker was forced to respond to the accusations.
FanDuel Fails to Remove William Hill’s Name from the Text
William Hill produced its “How To Bet Guide” in June 2018, at the time it started offering sports betting services at the Monmouth Park Racetrack.
According to its claims filed in federal court, a thoroughly identical guide was rolled out by FanDuel at the Meadowlands Racetrack only a month later.
William Hill presented the court with evidence of numerous instances of entire text passages from the aforementioned sports betting guide appearing in exactly the same wording in the version published by FanDuel. The particular design of type, however, was different. The British gambling operator’s claims went further than that, as the company insisted that diagrams illustrating possible bets and odds were also subject to unauthorized use by FanDuel.
The most scandalous instance of the copied content provided as evidence for William Hill’s claims was a page in which FanDuel failed to remove the UK-based gambling company’s name from the text and pasted it into its own guide.
Did William Hill Use Litigation as an Act of Populism?
The copyright infringement suit certainly made a few headlines and fuelled a variety of reactions on the matter. It made some raise an eyebrow, asking should it have been filed on the first place or could William Hill have resolved the issue in another way.
Considering the recent, and most certainly unexpected happy ending, the action taken by the British gambling operator seems more like public shaming to make its local rival look silly. As one of the largest companies in the branch, FanDuel, could have paid a professional to make sure their guide on how to bet on sports is original. The decision which the operator has made in terms of copying its competitor’s material has probably spared it a few dollars but the actual price paid for that was higher, as it provided some of the company’s opponents with the chance to unleash their criticism.
On the other hand, William Hill had every right to have legal claims to FanDuel. Still, the issue could have been resolved in a much more diplomatic way without making it to headlines, which made some analysts think that the British gambling company filed the lawsuit as an act of populism rather than defending its rights in court. In fact, the case was probably never going to get to trial, so it could have been resolved much more quickly without starting the litigation and making all the fuss about it.
- Author
Olivia Cole
