FaceTec accuses law firm of ‘betrayal’ in patent dispute with Jumio, iProov

Nevada’s FaceTec has accused its former legal representation of a conflict of interest in its patent dispute with California’s Jumio, and filed a motion to have the firm disqualified from the case.

The case concerns a complaint of Willful Patent Infringement by Jumio Corporation, filed on June 14, 2024. Per the text, “FaceTec alleges herein that Defendant Jumio makes, uses, offers for sale and sells in the United States products, systems, and/or services that infringe one or more claims of each of the FaceTec Patents-in-Suit.”

Said patents include a broad scope of tech classified as liveness assurance, liveness checks, liveness detection and pretty well everything associated with biometric liveness detection software.

In another twist, the actual tech that FaceTec says infringes on their patent belongs to the UK’s iProov. Having explored a partnership in 2019, Jumio and FaceTec parted ways. Jumio pursued a partnership with iProov, which, per the complaint, “thereafter deployed for Jumio a liveness detection technology that infringes on FaceTec’s patent rights.”

FaceTec sued iProov over the infringement in 2021, prompting iProov to file a countersuit in 2022.

Et tu, Perkins Coie? FaceTec wants firm removed from case

Now FaceTec claims that Jumio, having failed at prior efforts to develop its own liveness tools, is using FaceTec’s proprietary liveness detection as a model.

“Like iProov’s infringing liveness detection technology – and for similar reasons – Jumio’s own-branded liveness detection technologies include multiple aspects that are copied directly from FaceTec and that infringe the FaceTec Patents-in-Suit.”

Having crawled through the Northern District of California court system, the case has now reached a boil, with FaceTec calling out its former legal representative, Perkins Coie LLP, for representing Jumio in the dispute.

FaceTec says that since the firm has previously represented it in matters concerning the same patent, its working for Jumio constitutes a conflict of interest – and a “betrayal.”

“Defendant Jumio is well aware of both FaceTec and its patented technology,” it says. “Jumio is a direct competitor of FaceTec and provides competing biometric liveness detection software products.”

With Perkins Coie having crossed the floor, FaceTec recently contracted Washinton’s Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, among the world’s largest IP law firms, as international counsel.

Article Topics

biometric liveness detection  |  biometrics  |  FaceTec  |  iProov  |  Jumio  |  lawsuits