On October 5, 2016, the Federal Circuit affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruling in favor of Finnegan client Fidelity National Information Services. The PTAB previously invalidated two check-imaging patents held by DataTreasury Corp. The patents—also known as the Ballard patents and the impetus for shaping the America Invents Act’s covered business method review program—cover methods for acquiring and transmitting images from checks and other financial documents.
For a decade, DataTreasury has asserted the patents against banks and financial institutions and as a result, has secured over $350 million in settlement payments. In 2013, Fidelity challenged the patents after DataTreasury sued the company for infringement. The PTAB’s final written decision ruled that each of the claims were an abstract idea and unpatentable.
Finnegan attorney Erika H. Arner represented Fidelity. She said, "This [Federal Circuit] decision should finally put to rest the patents that Congress called the most 'notorious' business method patents. This is a good example of the America Invents Act working as intended to allow the Patent Office to reconsider and cancel patents that should never have issued."
