Universal Secure Registry Files Complaint Against Apple Inc. and Visa Inc. for Patent Infringement

BOSTON, May 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Secure Registry™, LLC (USR) a small Boston area company, filed a complaint in United States District Court for the District of Delaware challenging two of the world's largest companies, Apple Inc., and Visa Inc., as well as Visa Inc.'s subsidiary Visa U.S.A. Inc., in a lawsuit alleging they infringed seminal patents for electronic payments and identity authentication that paved the way for their mobile payment platforms.

USR founder and CEO Kenneth Weiss, "was the first in the space, and the secure payment technology that he developed goes right to the core of Apple Pay," according to the filing.

USR is represented by Quinn Emanuel, which has extensive experience with and has prevailed in patent cases against Apple.  With about 800 attorneys on staff, Quinn Emmanuel is one of the world's most prominent law firms devoted to business litigation and patent infringement.

This suit seeks unspecified damages, but details the scope of the infringement, claiming, "since 2014 Apple's backend servers and Visa's payment processing network VisaNet, including Visa Token Service, have supported and processed transactions made using Apple Pay, including billions of Apple Pay transactions made in the United States." According to the complaint, "Apple CEO Tim Cook stated at the iPhone 6 launch event in September 2014, '[p]ayments is a huge business. Every day between credit and debit we spend $12 billion. That's over $4 trillion a year and that's just in the United States. And this business is comprised of over 200 million transactions a day.''

"USR has set forth facts in the complaint which we believe will lead to discovery that will support claims of willful infringement against both Apple and Visa," Weiss said.  If a jury finds that Apple and Visa's infringement were willful, up to triple damages could be awarded.

In 2010, prior to the launch of Apple Pay in 2014, Weiss realizing the promise of USR's new patented technology approached the world's largest corporation, Apple Inc., and Visa Inc., the largest payment network in the United States, in attempt to partner with the companies to develop commercial implementation of the technology. Weiss reached out to both corporations with letters and meeting requests to discuss his cutting-edge technology. The lawsuit states, "during the meeting with Visa, USR made detailed presentations of the patented technology under protection of a non-disclosure agreement." After these attempts, no partnership was struck. However, according to the lawsuit "Apple and Visa began working together on Apple Pay at least as early as January 2013, and Visa dedicated approximately 1,000 people towards the development project with Apple."

"It is not uncommon for large companies to be unresponsive to outside suggestions for innovation or improvements to their product or technology," said Weiss. "Occasionally, these companies infringe patents and force a patent owner to file a lawsuit as the only way to financially benefit from the technology he invented."

Weiss pioneered the field of user-friendly methods to remotely authenticate personal identity for mission critical, high value computer systems and networks. According to the suit, he "realized the need existed for technology that would allow consumers to make payment-card transactions conveniently and with a high-degree of security." The complaint continues, "Weiss developed and patented superior technology using such devices to provide a mobile, efficient, and highly secure system for making payment-card transactions."

USR holds a portfolio of Weiss's 13 seminal US patents plus additional patents pending and foreign patents authored by Weiss since 2000.  The patents focus on software applications that secure and unimpeachable identity authentication can enable.  These include payments, secure financial transactions, physical access and a substantially improved replacement for Weiss's original SecurID token.

Weiss is an internationally recognized authority and spokesperson on the topics of computer security and identity authentication.  He has authored more than thirty (30) U.S. patents and numerous foreign patents, has published more than 50 professional and peer reviewed articles, and has been a sought-after speaker globally including major network television and radio programs. He has been featured in major publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Fortune, Christian Science Monitor, and The Wall Street Journal. Weiss invented the SecurID token, and he was founder and CEO of Security Dynamics Technologies Inc., the company that is now Dell Inc. RSA division.  More than 150 million people across the globe rely on computer security and identity authentication systems such as SecurID tokens invented, designed, and patented by Weiss, including more than 90% of Fortune 500 companies, and corporations, consumers, governments and banks in more than 30 countries, as well as all three branches of the United States government including the Defense Department, the Treasury Department, the Senate and the White House.

About Universal Secure Registry LLC
Universal Secure Registry™ LLC (USR) is an enabling-technology company. Integrating the convenience of a mobile phone with the security of a protected remote server, USR technology creates a secure system for transactions such as funds transfer and credit card purchases, and also has the added benefit of streamlining secure access to remote computers/networks, the cloud or physical facilities. Leveraging patented multi-factor identification authentication, USR's proprietary enabling identification technology designed for smartphone applications is available to third parties for licensing or purchase. USR is based in Newton, Massachusetts. https://universalsecureregistry.net/

SecurID, coined by Weiss, is a trademark of Dell Inc.'s RSA Security division.

Universal Secure Registry and USR are trademarks of Universal Secure Registry, LLC.

Media Contact:
Sean Flanagan
Agency 451
[email protected] 
781-789-2736

SOURCE Universal Secure Registry

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https://universalsecureregistry.net/