Playtech scored a victory in its High Court industrial espionage case against OnAir Entertainment on Wednesday, December 18, 2024. This is after Justice Thompsell ruled the lawsuit can proceed.
The High Court ruled in favor of Playtech in its legal battle against Realtime SIA, trading as OnAir, and other associated defendants. The case involved alleged misuse of trade secrets, breaches of confidentiality, and copyright infringement.
This follows dramatic allegations made by former OnAir product owner Ivans Ivanovs earlier in 2024. Ivanovs, who was a witness in the case, claimed that ex-Playtech subsidiary employee Igors Veliks had retained access to Playtech’s internal environment after joining OnAir.
A lot of OnAir employees confirmed the truth of these allegations to NEXT.io. Screenshots were provided that showed Veliks providing access by his credentials in Playtech interface.
A Playtech spokesperson told NEXT.io in the aftermath that it would investigate the matter for possible instances of IP infringement, as well as other claims.
Justice Thompsell said that he believes there is a good arguable case against Mr. Veliks. He stated that there is a degree of conviction for a breach of confidence. Therefore, he found that there is a strong arguable case with a suitable degree of conviction for a breach of Regulation 3 of the Trade Secrets, Enforcement, etc. Regulations 2018.
The dispute centered on the Horizon platform of Playtech. It hosts proprietary online gambling games.
After leaving the company to work for Realtime SIA, Playtech alleged that the former employee had accessed confidential data.
The B2B iGaming giant also argued that this constituted industrial espionage. It claims that someone used the data to develop competing games.
It presented evidence that someone accessed the site using Veliks’ credentials over 800 times between August 2021 and January 2024. This amounts to over 200 hours of access.
