Citicorp, Online Settle Patent Suit

Citicorp and Online Resources and Communications Corp. Monday announced the settlement of a patent infringement suit the bank filed against the technology company in December.

The suit was dismissed in Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Online has also agreed to drop a countersuit.

Because of a confidentiality agreement between the parties, terms of the settlement were not available.

Gene Riechers, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Online, said the settlement was good news. "We're proceeding with our business as we did before." Citicorp officials could not be reached for comment.

The Citicorp suit took aim at Online Resources' ScreenPhone, a home banking device manufactured by the McLean, Va.-based company.

Citicorp, which markets its own home banking device, charged Online's product made use of technology covered by three of the bank's patents. The bank sought damages and a halt to the alleged infringements.

Mr. Riechers said that Online Resources plans to continue to license a patent it has that covers the processing of home banking transactions through automated teller machine networks.

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