By Richard Waters | Financial Times
Intellectual Ventures, the U.S. patent licensing firm, has launched a campaign against the banking industry in a series of lawsuits claiming widespread infringement of its intellectual property.
The attack has come in a series of lawsuits filed since late May that have now named eight US financial institutions, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Capital One. The suits cover two broad areas of banking activity to do with the security of payment systems and online banking, with four banks sued in each area.
The legal broadside against the banking industry comes as Washington takes aim at so-called patent trolls – legal opportunists who buy up patents to force settlements from deep-pocketed defendants.
David Kris, Intellectual Ventures’ general counsel, denied that it launched the kind of “frivolous” lawsuits associated with trolls and said it backed proposed legislation to crack down on such nuisance claims. He also accused companies that have led the lobbying against trolls in Washington of pursing their own narrow self-interest to make up for a lack of intellectual property rights.
“This is just business and competition being carried out in another way and by other means,” Mr Kris said.
