Anyone worth their salt in the payments arena is aware of the patent troll threats. Dubious patents to extract fees from banks, credit card companies, financial institutions and other payment technology providers are a constant threat.
Citi, Wachovia, and Wells Fargo have consulted with the Federal Reserve and agreed to table litigation proceedings until noon, October 8. The three have agreed to a standstill of litigious activities and cooperate in good faith to resolve the issues surrounding the purchase and transfer of Wachovia’s assets.
Hitachi Consulting has created a Payments Compliance practice through its Dove Consulting division and appointed Paul Turgeon to lead the practice. Turgeon has held senior leadership roles with First Data Corporation, NYCE and ACI as well as founding Schema Corporation. The new practice will help industry participants assimilate the myriad association release changes such as “Release Requirements Normalization”, “Release Management”, “Back Office Optimization”, “Portfolio Optimization” and “Release Opportunity Maximization”. Dove Consulting specializes in strategy and organization consulting for banks, payment networks and processors, broadband companies and consumer goods companies. Hitachi is a global electronics company with consolidated sales totaled 9,464 billion yen ($80.9 billion).
The recent Wal-Mart debit card lawsuit settlement has produced a litigious atmosphere as a Maryland man is now threatening to sue VISA, MasterCard, and all related parties, to reclaim 31 years worth of interchange fees. William Lovern and his Trial Management Associates has reportedly been threatening banks worldwide with a class action lawsuit. He has apparently been threatening the card associations for the past several years. In a press release dated July 1st, Lovern says he will seek to restructure the interchange fee system and will seek damages between $75 and $115 trillion. Lovern claims to have a 1970 memo wherein Dee Hock, the initial president of National BankAmericard, was advised by its attorneys that the interchange system was in possible violation of the “Sherman Antitrust Act.” Lovern says Hock had the memo destroyed.