BURLINGTON, Vt. – Two credit unions, New England FCU and Heritage Family CU, were sued separately in federal court here yesterday over claims they are infringing on patents relating to their processing of transactions through their ATMs, the latest in a growing list of credit union-targeted patent claims.
The latest claims were filed by Automated Transactions LLC, which claims an exclusive license for the patents. The Delaware-based company filed similar suits against Delaware Nation Bank last Friday and a variety of other banks before that, as well as against Cumberland Farms convenience stores and Sunoco gas station/convenience store operators.
In the new suits, Automated Transactions claims infringement from the processing of ATM transactions through the Internet. The company has been involved in numerous patent suits before over the ATM claim, the most important was a suit against IYG Holdings Co., the owner of 7-Eleven convenience stores. A federal court ruled against the patent company and the ruling was upheld by an appeals court.
