
Apple Pay Violates Patents Held by Security Technology Inventor, Lawsuit Alleges - saidajigumi
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/21/technology/apple-pay-patent-lawsuit.html
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saidajigumi
This Ars article[1] has a bit more info, including the involved patent
numbers. Since Visa is also named in the suit, I'm left wondering whether the
suit is effectively an attack on EMV contactless payments as a whole. That
would suggest that Android Pay might be an eventual target as well.

[1] [https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/05/creator-of-
secur...](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/05/creator-of-securid-sues-
apple-visa-over-digital-payment-patents/)

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chmaynard
According to the article, Weiss did not seek a license agreement or royalties
from Apple or Visa after the release of Apple Pay because his law firm advised
him to file the suit first. Why litigate without requesting an agreement
first? Seems fishy.

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tooltalk
Well, accrording to the same article and the complaint (See Paragraph 32-35):

"... In the suit and in an interview, Mr. Weiss said he had extensive meetings
in 2010 with Visa officials, including its chief executive at the time, to
discuss working together on the technology. In the interview, he said that
Visa had signed a 10-year nondisclosure agreement to gain access to the
technology, assigned engineers to fully understand the details, but then
dropped further communication without securing a license.

Mr. Weiss said he also wrote to Apple at the same time seeking to license his
technology, but the iPhone maker never responded to his inquiries. ..."

so clearly Visa had some working relationship with Weiss and was aware of
Weiss's work in that area. Apple pretty much ignored Weiss. Considering
Apple's past problems with suppliers, it's not surprising that they ignored
him as well, knowing well that the technology was patented.

Apple has had legal problems with wireless SEP (Standard Essential Patent)
holders like Qualcomm, Nokia, Ericsson every time contral renewal is up. Apple
believes that while their frivolous patents (eg, slide-to-unlock, rounded
corners) are worth almost $8 per devices, SEPs held by those companies are
worth $0.0000000x. QE, the law firm representing Weiss, probably made the
right call in suing Apple first.

