Communication Interface Technologies sued JPMorgan Chase, UPS, and TD Ameritrade for patent infringement on Friday in the Eastern District of Texas, claiming that the defendants utilized patented technology for client-server communication technology through their respective apps.
The patents-in-suit are U.S. Patent Nos. 6,574,239 (the ’239 patent); 8,266,296 (the ’296 patent); and 8,291,010 (the ’010 patent). These patents relate to the “development of methods and apparatuses for virtual connection of a remote unit to a server and methods and apparatuses for application-layer evaluation of communications received by a mobile device”; this covers Transport Layer Security (TLS) session technology which the defendants are accused of infringing upon.
The plaintiff has sought adjudication that the defendants have infringed the patents-in-suit; an award for damages; an award for costs and fees; and other relief as determined by the court. It stated that these patents are “rooted in computerized client-server computing architecture technology, and overcome problems specifically arising in the realm of computerized client-server computing architecture technologies.”
JPMorgan Chase allegedly infringed at least claim 7 of the ’239 patent through its products, including Chase Mobile, Chase Mobile Checkout, J.P. Morgan Access Mobile, J.P. Morgan Mobile, and Chase Mobile Checkout-Plus. These accused instrumentalities, according to the complaint, “perform a method in which wireless push notification messages are sent over TLS sessions, and the remote server and the client-side application establish a separate TLS connection for traditional client-server communications.” Specifically, a user receives a push notification about “charges, refunds, balance transfers, payments,” and other banking and account information. The plaintiff claims that this push notification is sent over TLS sessions to the various JPMorgan Chase apps. Similar allegations apply to the other patents addressed in the suit.
UPS is accused of infringing at least claim 1 of the ’296 patent through its UPS Mobile App, UPS Go App, and UPS Access Point App because it “makes use of specific client-server computer architecture functionalities” as described in the patent. For example, the app’s push notifications allegedly include an encrypted push token, which is sent over TLS sessions “from the UPS Server backend to the UPS APP … running on a user’s smartphone … or tablet.”
Lastly, TD Ameritrade allegedly infringed at least claims 1 and 17 of the ’010 patent through the TD VR Kit (US), TD Ameritrade Mobile App, thinkorswim Mobile: Trade. Invest. Buy & Sell App, TD Ameritrade Advisor Client, and TD Ameritrade Authenticator. The apps establish connections between the client and TD Ameritrade’s servers in order to enable communication between the groups via the defendant’s apps. The allegations for the other patents are similar and report that the defendant has taken advantage of Communication Interface Technologies’ patented technology.
Communication Interface Technologies is represented by Devlin Law Firm LLC.
