Apple Pay wins lawsuit against Fintiv in Texas after 7 years
Fintiv fails after 7 years to sue Apple Pay in Texas because it cannot prove the widget exists.
Quick summary:
Fintiv failed after 7 years to sue Apple Pay in Texas because it could not prove the "widget" existed.
Shortly after, Fintiv filed a new lawsuit in Georgia alleging theft of trade secrets.
The Texas ruling makes the Georgia lawsuit less likely to succeed.
In a seven-year-old lawsuit in Texas, Fintiv repeatedly asserted that Apple Pay and Apple Wallet use a “widget” that it has patented. However, when asked to provide evidence, neither the company nor the experts could identify what the “widget” actually is.
Judge Alan Albright ruled against the entire claim, finding that the card image and metadata Fintiv presented did not constitute software or a “widget management component.” With this argument, Fintiv’s remaining claims collapsed completely.
Fintiv pulls out of Texas
Fintiv quickly withdrew its lawsuit from Texas, which is considered “friendly” to intellectual property plaintiffs, after facing a jury after an adverse verdict. The court’s ruling found that Fintiv’s years-long effort was essentially a “phantom patent” that did not exist.
Turning to Georgia with new charges
Less than a week after the defeat, Fintiv continued to sue Apple in Georgia, accusing Apple of stealing trade secrets and violating anti-corruption laws. However, with a Texas court confirming that Apple Pay did not use the “widget” that Fintiv described, the new lawsuit’s chances of success are also in doubt.
Apple quickly dismissed the Georgia claims as “baseless.” The company said the Texas verdict, which was detailed in full, was a clear demonstration of Fintiv’s repeated failure to prove its case. Apple noted that courts have repeatedly rejected Fintiv’s claims, and it believes the Georgia case will also fail.
The Texas ruling found that Fintiv spent seven years pursuing an unidentifiable “utility.” Now, in Georgia, Fintiv hopes to convince a court that Apple stole trade secrets. But the newly released documents from Texas do little to bolster Fintiv’s new legal battle.
