Cardroom.com Files Legal Claim On FTP Software

Cardroom International has now filed a claim with the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County against Full Tilt’s poker software.  The actual claim was filed on August 20^th 2012 and now Poker Stars has been added to the suit.
Cardroom.com claims in the suit that due to the RICO statutes (Civil Racketeering Influenced and Corruption Organization Act) both companies had a negative impact on Cardroom’s business by directly offering customers in the US online poker to the tune of $30 Million.
Cardroom is going right after the directors of both companies in addition to their related companies in the suit.  The final “pot of gold” in this case will be the final rights to FTP software, which Cardroom says it rightfully owns.
Turns out that Chris Ferguson was an initial investor in the software created among other investors in his posy (A.KA. Jesus Coalition), which produced the software for Full Tilt under the company BH Developments.  But, Cardroom is claiming that it owned the rights to the software with a deal they struck way back in 2006 following a bankruptcy filing.
At that time an affiliate of Cardroom International reportedly acquired the software rights previously owned by BH Development, re-launching Cardroom.com in 2008.
Looks like this case could go on for a while with “He Said – She Said” arguments complete with accusations and complicated copyright legal issues.  It will be interesting to see how this all ends up especially now with Poker Stars being involved.