News coverage of the recent Newbodog.com online poker room and casino domain name difficulties has been published all over the Internet, as the rules and regulations that govern the web and the general law of the Internet comes under speculation and users begin to wonder exactly what playing poker amid the climate of changing international and local online poker room laws mean for them.  With the rapid implementation of different gambling laws that pertain to online poker rooms and casinos, players and establishment both have little clue what might happen in the future that might have some inadvertent effect on the online poker room and casino business.  Considering the tremendous amount of money that gets funneled through online poker rooms and casinos, it is perfectly natural that they are a target for attack from all manner of headhunters hiding behind lawyers that might be looking for any type of financial remuneration that they can possibly get their hands on.  The idea of lawsuits and frivolous legal actions in the United States is not new, as the legal system is choked to the point of gridlock with cutting edge activities and lawsuits that are basically meaningless but sometimes have a chance of paying off.

But the issue with Newbodog.com revolves around legal problems that have nothing to do with recent rulings by the United States government, but relate to patents that were filed in 1995 regarding the way that online poker rooms and casinos conduct business over the Internet.  It is unclear what actions will be taken in the future to alleviate potential difficulties with the patent law for online poker rooms and casinos that will allow them to continue operating, but it would appear that after the lawsuit was filed, Newbodog.com never responded and the verdict was rendered in absentia, without the proprietor of Newbodog.com consent.  It is speculated that, if Newbodog.com had formulated a defense and retained attorneys to combat the legal patent ruling, that the entire patent fiasco would be a non-issue, relegated to a simple motion and filing, rather than a multimillion dollar lawsuit.

Unfortunately, until the patent law is fully defined and cleared up, it is very likely that online poker rooms and casinos that conform to the type of business model and information sharing protocols that were first set down in the 1995 patents will be skating on thin ice.