Defendant
2 cases as defendant.
DraftKings Inc. is a digital sports entertainment and gaming company founded in 2012. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the company is publicly traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker DKNG. DraftKings became a public company in April 2020 through a reverse merger. For fiscal year 2026, the company has provided revenue guidance between $6.5 billion and $6.9 billion. As of early 2024, the company employed approximately 5,100 people.
DraftKings is an operating company that provides online and retail sports betting (Sportsbook), daily fantasy sports (DFS), and online casino (iGaming) products. Originally launched as a daily fantasy sports provider, the company expanded into sports betting in 2018 following the U.S. Supreme Court's repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA). Its product offerings include betting on major U.S. and international sports, as well as online versions of casino games like blackjack and roulette. The company operates a vertically integrated technology platform that powers its gaming services.
The company's patent litigation history consists of defending its operations. According to the provided data, DraftKings has been a defendant in two tracked patent cases and has not appeared as a plaintiff. This posture is typical of an operating company defending itself against patent assertions. The suits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Both tracked cases involve the same plaintiff, AG18, LLC. The litigation centers on a patent for "Location Based Restrictions on Networked Gaming." DraftKings challenged this patent in an inter partes review (IPR) at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The most recent case, filed in May 2024 at the Federal Circuit, is an appeal related to the PTAB's decision in that proceeding.
AG18, LLC appealed a PTAB decision regarding the patent. The Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB's final written decision, upholding the invalidation of claims 1-17 and 19-30 and confirming that claim 18 survived the review.
AG 18 sued DraftKings, and later Crown Gaming, alleging infringement of four AG 18 patents, including the '498 patent, based on DraftKings' DFS and Casino product offerings. DraftKings answered and asserted invalidity counterclaims. After the PTAB instituted IPRs, the district court administratively terminated/stayed the case pending IPR appeal; no merits decision has been reached.