Sportsbook operator William Hill US has settled a copyright infringement lawsuit against FanDuel.
The lawsuit was filed back in October 2018 after competing sportsbook FanDuel produced and distributed an almost identical betting guide at the Meadowlands Park Racetrack in New Jersey.
William Hill did not disclose the value of the settlement, but according to a filing in the US District Court of New Jersey, William Hill is not seeking a financial settlement to cover legal fees.
The money that William Hill received from the settlement will be used to help fund creative writing courses at universities in New Jersey and go towards initiatives that help combat gambling addiction.
Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill US said: “We are going to use some of the proceeds to fund scholarships for creative writing programs at New Jersey universities and we are also going to donate to an organisation that supports people with gambling problems, a very important issue for us.”
The lawsuit alleged that FanDuel’s betting guide contained text and diagrams explaining how to bet that were identical to the text and diagrams used in William Hill’s betting guide.
One passage of text in the FanDuel guide read: “Alternate & reverse lines are propositional wagers offered by William Hill on each baseball game.”
The fact that William Hill was mentioned in the FanDuel guide suggests that the text was lifted directly from the William Hill guide. One of the pages in the FanDuel guide even contained a William Hill logo.
The settlement was reached sometime last week but was only made public on Monday.
