Ethereum CryptoKitties Game Sees Lawsuit Dismissed By US Judge

A US judge has recently decided to throw out a lawsuit against the popular Ethereum game CryptoKitties on the grounds that it was “meritless”. The accusations were that CryptoKitties creator Axiom Zen had stolen trade secrets and broken a confidentiality agreement because of a recent promotion of the company.

According to the lawsuit, which was reviewed by US District Judge Lanis L. Sammartino, was considered a failure to succeed on the merits of the case. It was filed by Starcoin, which operates under the name of Tradestar. The lawsuit was filed in May and it argued that the other company stole its idea to produce collectibles modeled after celebrity likeness.

The most popular game on the Ethereum network, CryptoKitties, allows the users to buy, sell and breed unique digital cats and it works as a decentralized app. Recently, it conducted a digital sale in which it sold cats modeled after the NBA superstar Stephen Curry.

The sale was suspended as soon as the company learned that Curry was not involved in the initiative, as it had originally “been led to believe”, according to CryptoKitties. Even though Axiom Zen had a partnership with Curry before the meeting with Tradestar, the lawsuit accused it of stealing the idea for CurryKitties.

The Judge Was Skeptical Of The Lawsuit

Transcripts from the court show that the judge was very skeptical of the lawsuit. According to him, using celebrities is a very common idea, so it cannot be considered to be a secret and it would be “quite a stretch” to believe that licensing celebrities is anything new.

The president of Axiom Zen, Sam Gharegozlou, stated that the company knew that the lawsuit was meritless and that the lawsuit is a sign that the company is doing very well.