Bank of America, S1 Corporation Win in Patent Infringement Suit Against TradeCard

On March 22, 2006, a jury in federal court in the Southern District of New York decided in favor of Bank of America, N.A. and S1 Corporation in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by TradeCard, Inc. over Bank of America’s use of S1′s Purchase Order Processing System (POPS), an electronic tool that facilitates global trade letter of credit and open account transactions.

The issues at trial were whether Bank of America’s use of POPS infringed upon a patent held by TradeCard, and the validity of the same TradeCard patent. TradeCard sought patent infringement damages in excess of $10 million, and ultimately an injunction to force Bank of America and S1 to stop using or selling POPS. The jury found that Bank of America and S1 were not infringing, and that TradeCard’s patent is invalid.

“Bank of America is very pleased with the outcome of the trial. This verdict is a complete vindication of Bank of America’s position that the Bank’s use of POPS does not infringe the TradeCard patent, and that the patent itself is invalid,” said Dan Scanlan, Director of Trade Product Management for Bank of America. “This verdict means that Bank of America will continue to use POPS as an innovative solution to expedite the processing of documentation for international trade customers who do business around the world.”

“S1 is pleased with the jury’s decision,” said Fred Dumas, general manager of the S1 Wholesale Banking Group. “We look forward to continuing to work with Bank of America to support their global trade customers.”

Bank of America was represented by Frank Emory, Tom Scott and Nash Long of Hunton & Williams LLP. S1 Corporation was represented by Holmes Hawkins and James Mayberry of King & Spalding LLP.