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Shuffle Master, Inc. Provides VendingData Infringement Action UpdateLAS VEGAS --(Business Wire)-- Sept. 29, 2005 -- Shuffle Master, Inc. (NASDAQ National Market: SHFL) provides the following update of its VendingData Corp. ("VendingData") patent infringement action. On September 26, 2005, United States Magistrate Judge Lawrence R. Leavitt for the District of Nevada issued his Claim Construction Report and Recommendation in the Markman hearing concerning VendingData's Poker One shuffler. The Magistrate Judge's findings were limited to his interpretation of certain words in the patent claim asserted by the Company, and he agreed with the interpretation put forth by VendingData. The Magistrate Judge's Recommendation is not a determination of whether the Poker One infringes the asserted patent, nor does it speak to the validity of the Company's claims. Mark Yoseloff, Shuffle Master's Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer commented: "Although the Magistrate Judge's interpretation of the claim language is narrower than we believe it to be, we believe that even with this narrower interpretation, VendingData's Poker One shuffler infringes the asserted patent claim. We intend to file a written objection to the Magistrate Judge's interpretation and we intend to continue to enforce our intellectual property rights by moving the litigation forward to resolve our patent infringement claim." 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. |
