Source: Entrust
Entrust, Inc., a world leader in securing digital identities and information, today announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union on the grounds that the credit union has deployed an authentication solution for its customers which Entrust considers an infringement on its grid authentication patent.
Entrust, Inc. holds a patent on this technology, and the credit union has deployed this technology without license from Entrust.
While Addison Avenue's actions reinforce the value of grid authentication for protecting consumers from identity fraud, Entrust has a significant investment in the acquisition and commercialization of this technology and must protect its intellectual property rights. Grid authentication has seen rapid success as an innovative and cost-effective method for protecting the identities of consumers and employees.
Assigned to Entrust in 2005 by the Eastman Chemical Company, U.S. Patent 5,712,627 (the "627 Patent") was issued on January 27, 1998 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Among other things, the '627 Patent covers all methods for determining whether a person seeking access to a secured system is authorized to do so where the determination about the right to access the secured system is confirmed using some form of grid authentication with or without an accompanying password.
The patent infringement lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on March 22, 2006.