Unified Patents Establishes a Defensive Patent Zone for Electronic Payments
Los Altos, CA, December 23, 2014 – Unified Patents, which provides operating companies a solution for deterring NPE (Non-Practicing Entity) or patent troll threats, announced today the formation of an Electronic Payments Zone. This technology "no-fly" Zone will make it more difficult for NPEs with dubious patents to extract fees from banks, credit card companies, financial institutions, and other payment technology providers.
"Unified's newest technology Zone provides participating companies with a proven tool to combat increasing threats from NPE's against businesses in the electronic payments area, which continue to increase," said Gary Bender, Managing Director of the Electronic Payments Zone for Unified Patents.
"Deterring frivolous patent threats while maintaining a healthy patent system is foundational to what Unified provides its members," said Kevin Jakel, CEO and Founder of Unified Patents. "Now banks, credit card companies, financial institutions and technology providers that participate in the payments system have someone in their corner to deter future NPE activity. The establishment of the Electronics Payments Zone makes NPEs take a careful look before purchasing or asserting invalid patents."
The Electronic Payments Zone joins Unified Patents' two other Zones, Cloud Storage and Content Delivery. Unified now protects over $500 billion in product revenue across the three zones.
Unified provides an innovative and efficient alternative for dealing with the NPE problem by deterring NPEs rather than incentivizing them with buyouts or licensing payments. Currently, there are more than 70 Unified members participating in a collaborative structure that enables large, medium and small companies to partner with others businesses in industry verticals or Zones. Unified scales membership to a company's size, with some paying little or nothing.
About Unified Patents
Unified Patents was founded in 2012 to provide operating companies an alternative resource to curb abusive patent litigation. Unified Patents addresses the risk and cost of NPE litigation by strategically protecting areas of technology, such as Cloud Storage and Content Delivery and Electronic Payments. Unified's unique solution draws on the mutual need of large companies, SMEs and startups to proactively deter NPE activity. Among the services provided by Unified are patent transaction reports, litigation monitoring, prior art searches and invalidity studies. For more information about Unified or about becoming a member of one or more of its Zones, visit www.unifiedpatents.com.