Playtech’s Lawsuit Against OnAir Entertainment Picks up Speed

An ongoing lawsuit between two leading online gambling industry providers recently picked up speed after a court decision.

Espionage Lawsuit Can Proceed

This is the industrial espionage suit filed by Playtech against its rival, OnAir Entertainment. The latter company faced allegations of corporate espionage amid data accusing a former employee of keeping his access to Playtech assets even after quitting the company.

Now, the lawsuit reached an important milestone after a judge ruled that it can proceed, as announced by NEXT.io. The decision came from the UK High Court’s Justice Nicholas Thompsell. The case involves Playtech which filed a legal claim against Realtime SIA, a company trading as OnAir Entertainment. In its lawsuit, Playtech alleged that a former employee, Igors Veliks, who joined OnAir, retained his access for several years and had tapped into confidential information.

Per Justice Thompsell’s recent ruling, Playtech demonstrated that there’s sufficient data for its case against Veliks. He pointed to the possible breach of confidence which may be subjected to conviction, which is why the suit was given a green light to proceed in what is seen as a major win for Playtech.

“I consider that there is a good arguable case at least against Mr Veliks with a degree of conviction for there being a breach of confidence, and therefore I find that there is a good arguable case with a suitable degree of conviction for there being a breach by him of (Regulation 3 of the Trade Secrets (Enforcement, etc.) Regulations 2018),“

Justice Thompsell explained

Claims About the Involvement of More Companies Were Rejected

Besides OnAir Entertainment and its former employee, Playtech alleged that other associated companies breached confidentiality and trade secret laws by gaining access to its information.

However, the High Court ruled that there’s insufficient evidence that would tie those claims to Games Global Ltd and Realtime Malta. In the court’s ruling, Justice Thompsell acknowledged that no evidence suggests the two companies had any knowledge about the information breach or engaged in unlawful activities.

Accusations against Veliks claim that he had access to Playtech’s systems for approximately two years, despite leaving the company in 2021. Allegedly, the former employee accessed the company’s platforms without authorization more than 800 times. It is suspected that sensitive company information was extracted that would have given an advantage to OnAir Entertainment.

Still, it’s important to note that those allegations are yet to be proven in court before a ruling is issued.