serial plates and sold them to Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, the Baltic countries and the former Yugoslavia. All seized machines and components were destroyed. Only a few weeks later a second illegal consignment of counterfeit NOVOMATIC gaming equipment was raided by Russian authorities. All seized gaming equipment was destroyed, and the accused operator of the site was sentenced to the compensation of damages as well as a probation period of two years imprisonment. A completely new dimension of product piracy in the international gaming industry was discovered at the end of September 2008 in Kazan, the capital city of the constituent Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. Since 2003 a large factory had produced and sold fake NOVOMATIC gaming equipment with monthly production capacities of up to 2,500 machines. Operators of the factory pushed the boundaries too far when they decided to exhibit their products at international gaming shows. Action was taken, in the course of which authorities confiscated and subsequently destroyed a further 50 counterfeit gaming machines as well as a huge stock of components and assemblies. The operator of the factory was seized and convicted to a fine as well as a probation period of two and a half years imprisonment. Also, in the Republic of Ukraine, NOVOMATIC achieved progress in the prosecution of copyright and other IP infringements with the confiscation of counterfeit NOVOMATIC software as well as fake GAMINATOR® gaming machines in several cases. These prosecutions were again the result of close cooperation between NOVOMATIC, law firms, administrative authorities and local police.
Romania at the forefront of the crusade The Romanian subsidiary of NOVOMATIC began the fight against product piracy with an extensive catalogue of measures in 2007. Concretely, the first steps that NOVOMATIC Romania took on the local market were mystery shopping sessions and the purchase of main boards/slot machines that were supposedly counterfeits from various producers. In an attempt to raise awareness within the gaming industry, NOVOMATIC Romania took the opportunity to publicly destroy a number of counterfeit main boards at the annual gaming exhibition Entertainment Arena Expo in Bucharest in 2007. Other actions supporting the cause were initiated in 2011 and 2012 in the form of training seminars organized by NOVOMATIC Romania in collaboration with the Romanian Police and representatives of the Romanian Gaming Commission. Specific legal measures were taken against two companies in 2007 when criminal complaints were made, however, only resulted in administrative
www.novomatic.com | April 2017
Product piracy in the gaming industry causes not only considerable economic damage to the original equipment manufacturers but much more serious harm to the reputation of the entire industry.
fines. In 2009, following the same procedure, two further criminal complaints were made against the same companies. One of them acted as both producer and operator in the Constanta region. During the course of police action, 156 allegedly counterfeit slot machines were seized in a total of 18 gaming halls. Also, a technical evaluation was carried out by the Romanian Office for Authorship Rights, which compared source codes of the game programs found on 22 seized main boards with EPROM memories against the original game programs. The conclusion was that it was the same program with a number of changes made to affect the functionality. In this case, where economic crimes, tax evasion and money laundering were committed, criminal investigations lasted six years. In 2015 the case was filed in court and will go to trial shortly.
The threat is real The NOVOMATIC Group is one of the largest manufacturers of gaming equipment worldwide and therefore an obvious target of product piracy. As in every industry, the most successful products and brands are those that are most likely to be copied. Yet product piracy in the gaming industry causes not only considerable economic damage to the original equipment manufacturers but much more serious harm to the reputation of the entire industry. Counterfeit equipment can never reach the high-quality standards of tested and officially licensed equipment. In most cases, the fake equipment does not even grant the player a fair chance of winning, quite frankly because it was never supposed to. Thus, adding insult to injury, product piracy not only represents theft of ideas and intellectual property in relation to the original equipment manufacturer but also fraud and deceit against the player. Relating to gaming equipment counterfeits or fake slot machines, the main points of attacks are: • Copyright, specifically the software contained within the equipment’s main board • Trademarks: platform name, game title, the company’s brand • Rights relating to graphics and design • Patents such as an access door profile Besides violating the intellectual property rights belonging to the holders, illegal copies of original gaming products are the main source for black market or illegal exploitation, with all manner of consequences, such as: • Access of minors in locations where illegal slot machines are exploited • Tax evasion • The possibility of installing programs on illegal copies so the slot machine can be manipulated • Money laundering
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