1st Technology Returns Fire in Bodog Patent Case

1st Technology CEO Dr. Scott Lewis has employed a new legal strategy which may prove to be a winner in his battle with the Bodog Entertainment group, a plan to force Bodog CEO Calvin Ayre to make a US appearance.

Calvin Ayre would be loathe to travel to the US considering the US DoJ's aggressive policy of arresting online gambling executives and 1st Techology is likely counting on Ayre to settle out of court rather than risk arrest by traveling to Nevada to appear in court.

1st Technology released a statement claiming Calvin Ayre will be forced to make a personal appearance in Nevada on November 2 and that failure to appear "will result in a bench warrant being issued for the arrest of Calvin Ayre…".

Responding to Calvin Ayre's blog attack, Dr. Scott Lewis claimed he was not a "Patent Troll". "Licensing helps 1st Tech invest in new innovations and software development efforts – and reflects decades of effort and the greater part of my life's work," Lewis states. "It took me ten years of advanced education and another ten years of developing high performance chips and software to come up with these ideas."

Ayre continues to insist the 1st Technology case against Bodog is nothing more than an "extortion attempt". Lewis, of course, claims his patent suit is legitimate. Gambling911.com obtained a letter addressed to Calvin Ayre by Scott Lewis in which he writes: "Starting in July 2005 our law firm sent you multiple letters over the next year noticing infringement and proposing licensing negotiations – letter sent to your San Jose Costa Rican address listed on your Bodog website. After not getting any reply, we finally as a last resort filed suit in September 2006, and then called your customer service group."

Bodog and Calvin Ayre claim they never received notice of the impending patent suit and failed to appear in a Nevada court last month as a result. In their absence, the judge handed down a default judgement ordering Bodog to pay $49 million in damages as well as ordering the US-based servers to block all of Bodog's domains. Bodog has since re-launched all their domains on an overseas-based server under the BodogLife brand.

In an attempt to avoid Ayre's branding of him as nothing more than a Patent Troll, Dr. Scott Lewis announced he would be donating a portion of the proceeds of his case to charities including The Twin Towers Orphan Fund and The National Counsel on Problem Gambling.

At the time of writing this article, no Bodog response had been released, but a response is sure to hit the news shortly. The most likely result is that Calvin Ayre will not risk traveling to the US, and it is likely the matter will be settled out of court prior to the November 2 court date.

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