Patent Reforms May Aid Payments Innovation
The Obama administration announced recommendations and executive actions to reform the patent system in a way that would make it harder for patent assertion entities to sue for patent infringement, and thereby benefit payments innovation by removing certain hindrances. Mobile payments in particular are frequent targets for companies that own patents on business processes that cover mobile commerce. “These patents are now of questionable quality, but are still deemed to have high asset value,” says Article One CEO Cheryl Milone. “The model is easy. It’s not expensive to file a claim and not expensive to trigger an economic risk for a defendant to settle.” One example of this is PayOne’s recent lawsuit against Home Depot for using PayPal’s point of sale payments technology, as part of broader litigation by PayOne against PayPal. Patent litigation attorney Brian Seal says the Obama administration’s actions would increase the difficulty patent holders face to keep other payment firms in court for years debating the technological model used to carry out payments.
From “Patent Reforms May Aid Payments Innovation, Cut Banks’ Costs”
American Banker (06/05/13) Adams, John