Data Treasury wins big

Asking for a patent reexamination is a gamble. Colorado-based First Data Corp. learned that in spades this summer. The provider of electronic payment processing technology had asked the Patent and Trademark Office to reexamine two patents owned by DataTreasury Corporation. For several years now, DataTreasury has been on a tear, enforcing its patents on check-imaging and clearing technology against more than 60 financial institutions, including banking giants Bank of America Corp., Citigroup, Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., and Wachovia Corp.

But First Data’s bet came up empty. The PTO issued a final ruling in July on one of the two DataTreasury patents being reexamined. Not only did the patent office allow unaltered all of the 50 claims contained in U.S. Patent No. 5,910,988, the agency also accepted 73 additional claims filed by DataTreasury during reexamination. The final ruling has not yet come down on DataTreasury’s second patent, which is being enforced in tandem with the one that survived reexamination.