WILLIAMSPORT – A federal trademark infringement lawsuit involving two skill games firms has been settled out of court.
Terms were not disclosed in the settlement notice filed Thursday in U.S. Middle District Court.
However, Michael Barley, chief public affairs officer for Pace-O-Matic, said the company “achieved our goal in the lawsuit and consider the matter resolved.”
POM of Pennsylvania, which does business as Pace-O-Matic and the holding company Savvy Dog Systems, both based in Georgia, sued Paskillvending.com in 2019.
The complaint alleged POM’s Pennsylvania Skill trademark was intentionally used on the website to promote and sell counterfeit machines, software and related components.
An amended complaint was filed in 2020 adding as a defendant John “Duffy” Conley of Pittsburgh, who was identified as the registrant of the Paskillvending.com website.
Conley, once known as western Pennsylvania’s video poker king, was accused of being behind the counterfeit scheme.
POM manufactures games for the coin-op industry that are marketed under the trademark Pennsylvania Skill.
It licenses its software to Miele Manufacturing Inc. of Williamsport, which places skill game machines in gaming arcades, restaurants, bars and other public entertainment venues.
The court complaint contained images of POM and Miele machines along with one reportedly taken from the defendants’ webpage to show how closely they resemble each other.
POM claimed its game is the only one whose legality under Pennsylvania law has been judicially confirmed.
The suit sought unspecified damages, profits realized from the alleged infringement and a permanent injunction to prevent the defendants from using the Pennsylvania Skill trademarks in any manner.
Disabling the Paskillvending.com website and the re-registering of the domain names under the plaintiffs’ ownership also was sought.
Pending when the settlement was reached was POM’s motion for sanctions that accused the defendants of non-compliance with court orders related to discovery.
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