Mastercard appeal denied in case over legal fees brought on by SmartMetric patent infringement case

SmartMetric announced yesterday that the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied the Mastercard appeal in which Mastercard appealed the ruling of the Federal Circuit Courts decision against Mastercard’s motion for legal fees of more than $1.5 million against SmartMetric.

In 2013, U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald in Los Angeles ruled that Visa and MasterCard did not infringe on a patent owned by SmartMetric. Visa and Mastercard then sought $3 million in legal fees and costs against SmartMetric and in 2015, the court found that there was not enough evidence against SmartMetric to warrant a ruling in Visa and MasterCard’s favor, and the claim against SmartMetric was denied.

Mastercard appealed, and yesterday’s ruling handed down by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit closes out more than 2 1/2 years of legal arguments. Legal arguments that, according to SmartMetric’s president and CEO Chaya Hendrick, “could have seen SmartMetric severely damaged by the quest of Mastercard to levy an enormous legal cost charge against SmartMetric”.

Hendrick continued, “We are delighted and grateful to the Court with today’s ruling and it comes as a tremendous relief to everyone involved with our company. SmartMetric has been investing all of its time and resources into research and development to create an amazing new biometric payments card and we are now free to move forward without this black cloud of impending debt over our head.”

Earlier this week, SmartMetric announced that it will be presenting its biometric payments card technology at the upcoming Smart Card Alliance Payments Summit in Orlando, Florida.

Article Topics

biometric payment system  |  biometrics  |  fingerprint authentication  |  legal  |  Mastercard  |  patents  |  SmartMetric  |  Visa