Vanguard ID Systems has said that the US Patent and Trademark Office Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences has invalidated 51 claims of a 57-claim patent, initially granted by the office to Bank of America in 2002 for its Mini Visa Card. Vanguard ID had requested re-examination of the patent based on Vanguard ID’s patents and other prior transaction card technology.
Bank of America introduced the Bank of America Mini Visa Card in October 2002, distributing the Mini Card to millions of customers. The company inked a deal with Visa, giving it exclusive rights to issue the branded mini card for a one-year period. That agreement expired October 1, 2003, giving other banks the right to capitalize on this latest consumer craze and to develop and issue mini cards of their own. To date, an estimated 50 million Mini Cards have been issued.
Vanguard ID Systems challenged patents related to mag-striping technology behind the non-standard transaction cards. The company created Mag Tag, to incorporate magnetic strip and bar code technology.
Rick Warther, founder and CEO of Vanguard ID Systems, said: “We are pleased our intellectual property has been vindicated and that we can continue to deliver high-quality innovations to our customers. The technology developed by Vanguard ID Systems provides credit card issuers the tools to develop products consumers are demanding, offering them the opportunity to tap into hundreds of millions of dollars in market potential.”
West Chester, Pennsylvania-based Vanguard ID Systems is a manufacturer of bar coded, magnetic stripe and radio frequency identification products.
