it's not clear to me whether cards with consistent patterns due to manufacturing process ought to be considered marked or not. certainly Ivey and his colleague

it's not clear to me whether cards with consistent patterns due to manufacturing process ought to be considered marked or not. certainly Ivey and his colleague were able to utilize those patterns as if the cards had been marked, but in truth neither Ivey nor his colleague did anything to the cards at all before playing. I think the argument comes down to spirit of the law (which Ivey broke, in my opinion) vs. letter of the law (which he didn't break, in my opinion).