Facing the Ace has become one of the interesting shows put on by Poker PROductions and NBC. Although it has struggled in the ratings, the Face the Ace show appears to be guaranteed a spot in the press indefinitely as it is at the heart of what is likely the largest court case of copyright infringement to ever hit the poker industry.

This case will pit Brandon McSmith as the plaintiff against Mori Eskandani and Poker PROductions. Full Tilt Poker and NBC, the online poker site and network respectively responsible for bringing the show to life and sponsoring it, will likely get pulled into the situation as well by association.

According to McSmith, he pitched a show called the All Star Poker Challenge. In this show, players would play five matches heads up against five different poker professionals. They would take home $2000 per match won and if they managed to win all five they would get a seat at the WSOP Main Event. This is somewhat similar to the current format of Face the Ace although the prize increases per heads up match, there are three heads up matches instead of five and the final prize is actually $1 million instead of the seat at the WSOP Main Event.

Although the prizes on Face the Ace are far more generous than anything McSmith has ever suggested as part of the All Star Poker Challenge, their respective formats are still similar enough to raise some eyebrows. Adding to the interest in the story is the fact that McSmith has obtained the services of Arlo Devlin-Brown, a representative of the New York Southern District Attorney’s Office. Devlin-Brown is infamous in online poker circles as being the man behind the $30 million funds seizure from Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker, a move that temporarily prevented them from making payments to their players.

At the moment, it is unknown whether or not Devlin-Brown will take the case, but the FBI has confirmed that they are investigating the claim of copyright infringement put in by McSmith. His current intention is to prosecute and he will be asking for $85 million in damages as a result of the infringement.