t m ew arshalls essenge · 2 days ago · jefferson — droves of par-ticipants turned out for the...
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The MarshallNews MesseNgerMarshallNewsMessenger.com
Marshall, Texas sunday, sepTeMber 20, 2020 $1.50
$1.50
VOL. 142NO. 303
20 PAGES INSIDEU.S. Open: Wolff takes
detour to claim 2-shot
lead,Page 1B
East Texas WWII veteran celebrates a century, Page 9A
Business and financial news,Page 6B
ONLINEFind showtimes, descriptions, trailers and reviews of newly released movies online at
MarshallNewsMessenger.com
TODAY’SWEATHER
Mostly sunny. High 83, low 66.
For a seven-day forecast, see page 3B.
By RoBin y. [email protected]
After a seven-day trial, a federal jury in Marshall found the popular “Clash of Clans” mobile game mak-er, Supercell OY, guilty of infringing the patents of Japanese game maker Gree Inc.
The jury, on Friday, ordered Su-percell to pay Gree an $8.5 million lump sum royalty, representing damages for past and future sales. The plaintiff was seeking a running
royalty of $24,666,002 in the case.Because the jury found that the
infringement was willful, presiding U.S. District Chief Judge Rodney Gil-strap could increase the amount by as much as three times the amount set by the jurors.
“It has been my privilege and hon-or to present this important case,” Gree’s attorney, Steven Moore, of San Francisco, California-based Kil-patrick Townsend & Stockton, LLP, told the jury during closing argu-ments Thursday.
“Patents are here to protect ideas,” said Moore.
In the case, Gree accuses three of Supercell’s mobile games Clash of Clans, Clash Royale and Brawl Stars of infringing five of Gree’s patents.
“Supercell makes $1.2 billion from the three games, just in the U.S.,” said Moore, representing Gree.
“Supercell makes $25,000 every 28 minutes just in the US, just on these three games,” he added.
Supercell, based in Finland, was founded in 2010 and releases mobile
games and distributes its games in-ternationally and throughout the United States, including Texas. Gree, a global social media company, was founded in 2004 and provides mo-bile content and services, including games, entertainment, media, ad-vertising and investment services.
“GREE has sought to protect its investments in innovation by obtain-ing patent protection,” the lawsuit states. “GREE currently hold pat-ents covering various improvements in digital and gaming technology in
countries throughout the world, in-cluding the United States.”
Patent ClaimsAccording to the lawsuit, Su-
percell’s Clash Royale game, for instance, infringes a patent related to a game control method and a pat-ent relating to changing battle card game conditions during different terms. The asserted patents describe a method of managing a time-limited
By RoBin y. [email protected]
Nearly 50 registered to vote, on Sat-urday, as the Marshall NAACP Branch No. 6185 held a drive-thru registration and Family Fun Day to gear up for the Nov. 3 Election.
“A lot of people have registered,” local chapter president Zephaniah Timmins said Saturday. “We even had some people to join this organization today.”
“We’re just blessed,” he said. “We had a good day. We have taken action.”
The event was co-hosted by the Nu-Town Revitalization Group, Delta Sig-ma Theta Sorority Inc., Unified Trail Riders and the Harrison County Dem-ocratic Party.
Timmins said they had the pleasure of having the local Democratic Party chair, Maxine Golightly, present as well as Hank Gilbert, who is the Dem-ocratic candidate for the U.S. Congres-sional District 1 seat against Republi-can incumbent, Louie Gohmert.
“We just want to thank all the peo-ple that helped today,” said Timmins. “We just came together as one uni-fied group to show the people it’s very important to register to vote, but it’s more important to go and vote … be-cause how can we voice our opinion except at the polls.”
Gilbert, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Congressional District 1, said he was happy to be a part of the vot-er registration drive, as his campaign has been helping coordinate similar efforts throughout the district.
“I came here to support the NAACP voter registration drive. Right now, my campaign helped coordinate vot-er registration drives all throughout
By Wyndi [email protected]
Potential jobs were on tap for hundreds Saturday as the new-ly-announced Dirt Cheap held a job fair to fill approximately 500 jobs at their new location in Marshall.
The business will lease 325,000 square feet of a privately owned structure at 2938 Brown Road, to serve their retail out-lets in Texas, Western Louisi-
ana and Southern Arkansas. A retail outlet for Dirt Cheap that is open to the public will also be located on the premises.
According to John Beasley, Vice President of Human Re-sources, more than 100 people were waiting to apply before the fair officially started on Satur-day. After the first hour, more than 200 interviews had been conducted.
“We want to hire as many as we can and plan to hire up to 500
people in stages,” Beasley said. “We’ve had a very good turn out with a lot of good energy. We were pleased with those who applied.”
Beasley stated he was ex-tremely pleased at the work that both the Marshall Econom-ic Development Corporation (MEDCO) and the city commis-sioners had completed with Channel Control Merchants of Texas, LLC, (CCM), the parent company of Dirt Cheap.
To expedite the hiring pro-cess, applicants were able to fill out an application on site, go through a background check, complete new hire paperwork and go over key points in the employee handbook.
“We were hoping to do drug testing here but just didn’t have enough notice,” he said. “
Starting wages for the com-pany are $10, with a $1 an hour
By RoBin y. [email protected]
JEFFERSON — Droves of par-ticipants turned out for the Tractors for Trump parade
in downtown Jefferson, on Satur-day, in support of the re-election bid for President Donald Trump.
The parade, which kicked off at 1 p.m., was held in conjunction with Jefferson’s second annual Antique Tractor Show and was hosted by the Republican Party of Marion County. The party invited participants to “wear your Trump swag and bring your flags.”
“This event, we came to last year. That was the first year they put it on,” said William Gandy, of Tyler. “This year we planned on coming again but the theme
Dirt Cheap holds job fair, prepares for upcoming opening
Jefferson Antique Tractor Show, parade sees large turnout
The Trac-tors for Trump pa-rade was new to the second annual Antique Tractor Show, held in downtown Jefferson on Satur-day.
Robin Y. Richardson/News Messenger Photos
Participants in the Jefferson’s Tractors for Trump parade, on Saturday, sport their support for the re-election bid for President Donald Trump.
TRacToRs foR TRump
See FAIR, Page 5A
See TRACTOR, Page 3A
Robin Y. Richardson/News Messenger photo
From left, Harrison County NAACP Branch No. 6185 President Zepha-niah Timmins, and local Democratic Party chair Maxine Golightly pose with US Congressional District 1 Democratic candidate, Hank Gilbert, at a voter registration and Family Fun Day event, held Saturday at the NAACP office.
NAACP Fun Day event offers voter registration
See NAACP, Page 3A
FEDERAL INFRINGEMENT CASE
Company to pay $8.5M for patent violation
See PATENT, Page 5A