If during the hustle and bustle of the Thanksgiving holidays you missed CUNA’s webinar on USAA remote deposit capture lawsuits, you can access the recording via this registration link. For a refresher on the issue: On November 6th a U.S. District Court jury awarded USAA $200 million in a patent infringement lawsuit against Wells Fargo regarding remote deposit capture (RDC). USAA filed the lawsuit in 2018 against Wells Fargo, alleging that the bank infringed on USAA RDC patents related to mobile check capture.
The decision has ramifications for credit unions, as USAA sent letters to many credit unions asking them to negotiate license deals regarding RDC technology that USAA claims to have developed. CUNA’s patent litigation attorney, Mike Rounds of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, said that USAA is likely to aggressively enforce these patents, which could lead to litigation for credit unions. Credit unions should contact their RDC technology vendor, Rounds or their own attorneys with questions.
To help credit unions weigh and navigate this, during the webinar, CUNA Senior Director for Advocacy for Payments and Cybersecurity Lance Noggle and CUNA’s patent litigation attorneys Mike Rounds and Adam Yowell, of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, detailed the Wells Fargo lawsuit result and what could happen going forward, and noted that USAA has filed another lawsuit on five additional patents that is set to begin in January 2020. But if your December is already too intense and you do not have time for the webinar, here are the recommendations to credit unions by the attorneys:
- Review contracts with software vendors for indemnity clauses;
- If appropriate, advise vendors they need to respond to the infringement/licensing demand;
- Check state licensing codes for information on indemnification;
- Check the state commercial code; and
- Check business insurance policies to see if patent infringement is covered.
