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Shuffle Master Announces Patent Purchase Agreement with IGT
15 June 2005
Shuffle Master, Inc. (NASDAQ National Market: SHFL - News) today announced that in conjunction with a separately announced worldwide product integration agreement amongst Shuffle Master, International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT - News) and Progressive Gaming International Corporation (NASDAQ National Market: PGIC - News) it has entered into a patent purchase agreement with International Game Technology ("IGT").
Under the terms of the agreement, Shuffle Master has agreed to sell IGT an equal ownership interest in its recently acquired radio frequency identification ("RFID") patents from ENPAT Inc., U.S. patent numbers 5,735,742 and 5,651,548, which relate to the use of RFID at gaming tables and throughout a casino. Previously granted licenses to Progressive Gaming and Gaming Partners International for the use of these patents will remain in effect. In addition, Shuffle Master has also agreed to sell an equal ownership interest in its Schubert and Fishbine patents, U.S. patent numbers 6,313,871, 5,781,647 and 6,532,297, which relate to the use of optical bet recognition and chip tracking. Upon the signing of the agreement, IGT has agreed to pay Shuffle Master a non-refundable initial cash payment of $10.5 million and a future $4.9 million payment, specified under the terms of the agreement, due in June 2007. As co-owners of the patents, Shuffle Master and IGT will share equally in future royalties associated with third party licensing of the purchased patents.
Mark L. Yoseloff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer commented, "This transaction confirms the value of our portfolio of bet recognition patents, including particularly those purchased from ENPAT in December of 2004. We are confident that this arrangement will allow us to fully exploit the value of these patents and bring to market the best possible product for our customers." Yoseloff further commented, "Given Shuffle Master's leadership in the table game business and IGT's leadership in the systems business, this agreement demonstrates each company's commitment to optimizing these all important technologies for the future."
Shuffle Master, Inc. is a gaming supply company specializing in providing its casino customers Utility Products, including automatic card shufflers, intelligent table systems, and roulette chip sorters, to improve their profitability, productivity and security, and Entertainment Products, including proprietary table games and Table Master (TM) games to expand their gaming entertainment content. The Company is included in the S&P Smallcap 600 Index. Information about the Company and its products can be found on the Internet at www.shufflemaster.com.
This release contains forward-looking statements that are based on management's current beliefs and expectations about future events, as well as on assumptions made by and information available to management. The Company considers such statements to be made under the safe harbor created by the federal securities laws to which it is subject, and assumes no obligation to update or supplement such statements. Forward-looking statements reflect and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, but are not limited to, the following: changes in the level of consumer or commercial acceptance of the Company's existing products and new products as introduced; advances by competitors; acceleration and/or deceleration of various product development, promotion and distribution schedules; product performance issues; higher than expected manufacturing, service, selling, administrative, product development, promotion and/or distribution costs; changes in the Company's business systems or in technologies affecting the Company's products or operations; reliance on strategic relationships with distributors and technology and manufacturing vendors; results from current and/or future litigation or claims; tax matters, including changes in tax legislation or assessments by taxing authorities; acquisitions or divestitures by the Company or its competitors of various product lines or businesses and, in particular, integration of businesses that the Company may acquire; changes to the Company's intellectual property portfolio, such as the issuance of new patents, new intellectual property licenses, loss of licenses, claims of infringement or invalidity of patents; regulatory and jurisdictional issues (e.g., technical requirements and changes, delays in obtaining necessary approvals, or changes in a jurisdiction's regulatory scheme or approach, etc.) involving the Company and its products specifically or the gaming industry in general; general and casino industry economic conditions; the financial health of the Company's casino and distributor customers, suppliers and distributors, both nationally and internationally; the Company's ability to meet its debt service obligations, including the Notes, and to refinance its indebtedness, which will depend on its future performance and other conditions or events and will be subject to many factors that are beyond the Company's control; and various risks related to the Company's customers' operations in countries outside the United States, including currency fluctuation risks, which could increase the volatility of the Company's results from such operations. Additional information on these and other risk factors that could potentially affect the Company's financial results may be found in documents filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual report on Form 10-K.
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Contact:
Shuffle Master, Inc.
Mark L. Yoseloff, Ph.D. or Richard Baldwin, 702-897-7150
Fax: 702-270-5161
or
Investor Relations Advisor
Tom Ryan, 203-682-8200
Fax: 203-682-8201
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Source: Shuffle Master, Inc.
Source: Business Wire
All trademarks and copyrighted information contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
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