A judgment awarded to Las Vegas-based technology company Firy has grown to $719 million in its false advertising case against Papaya Gaming.
Skillz Platform Inc., a skill-based gaming company and wholly owned subsidiary of Firy Inc., announced on Tuesday it has been awarded $719 million in disgorgement, which is the repayment of profits gained through unlawful actions, and $10 million in legal fees in its lawsuit against Papaya Gaming. As the figure grows, the award remains the largest under the Lanham Act, which allows companies to pursue civil cases for trademark infringement, in U.S. history.
“We founded this industry and built its biggest and best company on one value above all others: honor,” said Andrew Paradise, CEO and founder of Firy, in a statement. “In a winner-take-most market, Papaya could not beat us fairly, so it used bots to fake the competition we invented. This judgment sets the record straight.”
Papaya didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Originally, the jury awarded Skillz $420 million in its April 23 decision. The new disgorgement figure, which the jury and court found to be the “appropriate measure of recovery,” according to a press release, replaces the original award.
The lawsuit was filed in March 2024 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The court and jury found Papaya was matching humans with bots, rather than other users on its gaming platforms, despite claims on its website.
Skillz, founded in 2012, pioneered a platform that allows game developers to incorporate skill-based competitions into their mobile games. Skillz is a pioneering platform in the digital skill-based industry, holding over 80 patents for the creation of the technology. In 2017, Skillz ranked No. 1 on the Inc. 5000 list for being the fastest-growing business in the country.
Papaya is an Israeli skill-based gaming company founded in 2019, offering games such Solitaire Cash, Bingo Cash and Bubble Cash. The company’s website advertises people can “play daily tournaments and take on players all over the world,” similar to that of Skillz.
Papaya still has the option to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the District Court has not yet ruled on Skillz’s request for injunctive relief, which remains pending.
According to the press release, Papaya had more than 13 million bot participants, more than its approximately 11 million human players. Because of this around $4.7 billion in prizes was never paid out to real users because bots won.
“Fourteen years in, on our path to one hundred, Skillz is back to defining what this industry was built for: fair, fun, and meaningful competition,” said Paradise in the statement.
Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.
