Source: https://2d-code.co.uk/page/3/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 20:11:53+00:00

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Successive CEOs and senior management have transformed Neomedia into a bankrupt pile of garbage and exploited hapless shareholders in the process. Over the last few years with no viable business plan Neomedia has adopted the role of patent troll in the QR Code space and recently, as a last throw of the dice, is embarking on legal action against a successful competitor, Scanbuy.
As the world’s leading mobile engagement solutions provider, Scanbuy hopes to give brands peace of mind so they can focus on growing their business and take advantage of QR Codes to engage their customers without worry of ongoing patent threats. Scanbuy has one of the largest and oldest patent portfolios of any company in the industry, owning 19 patents globally and licensing more than 40 patents to cover its entire solution. Scanbuy uses this unequalled position to protect its customers and has never used its patents for assertive purposes, defense only.
On May 7, NeoMedia Technologies filed a lawsuit against Scanbuy in the federal court located in Atlanta alleging, among other things, trademark infringement and patent infringement. NeoMedia filed its lawsuit just a few weeks after Scanbuy filed a lawsuit against NeoMedia in a state court in Delaware. Scanbuy’s lawsuit alleges that NeoMedia violated Delaware law by interfering with Scanbuy’s business relationships and expected business relationships by sending false and misleading letters to Scanbuy’s customers threatening them with patent infringement if those customers do not take a license from NeoMedia.
Scanbuy’s complaint says that NeoMedia sent threatening letters to numerous leading corporations including Canon, Inc., Campbell Soup Company, W. Atlee Burpee & Co., Bissell Inc., Starbucks Corp., and The Home Depot. NeoMedia’s threats included that “the use of indirect codes by Scanbuy and Scanbuy’s customers infringes” certain patents owned by NeoMedia.
Among other things, Scanbuy’s complaint alleges that NeoMedia knew or should have known that Scanbuy, and therefore Scanbuy’s customers, are free to use NeoMedia patents – some of which have about a year of life left–because of certain agreements (described below) between and among Scanbuy, NeoMedia, and Microsoft.
As is publicly known, Scanbuy and Microsoft entered into an agreement, announced in August 2013, by which Scanbuy began directly supporting Microsoft’s “TAG technology” and which also made Scanbuy a “customer” of Microsoft. Prior to that, NeoMedia had granted Microsoft a patent license that covers Microsoft, its customers, and their customers’ customers. Therefore, Scanbuy alleges in its Delaware lawsuit that NeoMedia made false and misleading statements about Scanbuy and the reach of NeoMedia’s patents because Scanbuy and its customers are covered under the NeoMedia-Microsoft license.
NeoMedia’s threat letters offer a proposed solution to Scanbuy’s customers: if the companies wish to continue to use QR codes, the company can enter a license agreement directly with NeoMedia. However, as stated, Scanbuy believes that Scanbuy and Scanbuy’s customers do not need a license from NeoMedia to operate.
Also, Scanbuy notes that at least one company decided not to pay NeoMedia for a license, but instead, it will fight by questioning the validity and alleged infringement of NeoMedia’s patents. For example, Starbucks filed a declaratory judgment action in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (Civil Action No. 2:14-cv-00365) on March 12 seeking a declaration that Starbucks does not infringe U.S. Patent No. 8,131,597 and that U.S. Patent No. 8,131,597 is invalid.
A quick non-exhaustive search of docket filings shows that NeoMedia has filed nine lawsuits in the past 12 months alone. The full list of 23 scannable code patent lawsuits filed by NeoMedia in all previous years is included in the addendum below.
In contrast, Marshall Feature Recognition (MFR), the largest and most significant scannable code patent holder, has not filed suit against any of Scanbuy’s customers. Scanbuy’s own patents and its agreements with MFR and others in the industry ensure Scanbuy’s customers are protected from patent lawsuits when they create QR Code campaigns.
5. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. AIRCLIC INC.
6. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. BED BATH & BEYOND, INC.
7. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. CONAIR CORP.
9. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. DUNKIN’ BRANDS GROUP, INC.
10. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. KAO USA, INC.
11. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. KAO USA, INC.
12. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. LSCAN TECHNOLOGIES INC.
13. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. MICHAELS STORES, INC.
15. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. SCANBUY INC.
16. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. SCANBUY INC.
17. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. SCANBUY, INC.
18. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. SCANBUY, INC.
19. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. SCANBUY, INC.
20. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. SPYDERLYNK, LLC.
21. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. TACO BELL CORP.
23. NEOMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. V. THE WENDY’S CO.
QR Codes formed from contrasting color umbrellas, held aloft by people, seems to be a popular activity in East Asia. See for example previous QR Codes in Taiwan and the ex-world record “human” QR Code in Shenzhen, China. On April 28 Coca-Cola in Zhengzhou City, China set a new world record “human” QR Code of 2,503 square meters (approx 27,000 square feet) when 2,499 employees and their families held up their red and white umbrellas (images below). The four Chinese characters in the center of the QR Code translate as “I love my family” which is the company slogan for the local Coca-Cola enterprise. The QR Code itself resolves to a download of WeChat, the predominantly Chinese mobile text and voice messaging communication service with over 355 million active users.
Yesterday’s Vecernji List, Croatia’s national newspaper, had an interesting QR Code on the front page (image below). Scanning the code can win readers cash prizes between 10,000 and 50,000 Kuna ($1,800 – $9,000) entirely at random. The promotion which lasts for a week is designed to raise the newspaper’s profile and to increase last years poor sales of smartphones in Croatia. Pass this onto your friends and if you get lucky remember you heard it here first!
The UK’s Royal Mint announcement yesterday that there is to be a new pound coin gives me the opportunity to resurrect an idea I had 3 years ago. As always the reigning British monarch’s head will be on one side of the coin but the Royal Mint is to run a public competition to choose the design for the reverse of the coin. My idea is to put a QR Code on the new coin. The QR Code would resolve to a server operated by the Royal Mint and then redirected to wherever they chose. The Royal mint would then auction weekly leases on the QR Code redirect. With 1.5 billion pound coins (currently) in circulation this could be attractive to many businesses, particularly if they run a promotion with a competition. For example “Scan the pound in your pocket to enter the Pepsi grand challenge”. There are three things I particularly like about my idea. Firstly if a competition goes viral everyone with a pound coin can enter immediately. Secondly people may get used to scanning a pound coin once a week just to see what’s there. Thirdly, last year the Royal Mint’s return on capital was 0.5% but with a new revenue stream from QR Code leasing this could be increased by a significant factor.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) issued a notice on Friday that halted virtual credit card products as well as payment operations using QR Codes. The bank cited safety risks but it is more likely to be the central bank’s concern that it was loosing control of consumer credit services to Internet companies. The ban affects both China’s largest listed Internet company Tencent and e-commerce firm Alibaba who own Alipay, an online payment escrow service that accounts for roughly half of all online payment transactions within China. The PBOC is asking the companies to submit detailed reports on their procedures. The PBOC keeps very tight control of China’s monetary policy and tends to over regulate financial institutions. When the bank has found a framework to control the rapid growth in China’s online financial services we can expect virtual credit card products to return but almost certainly with restrictions. It is probably no coincidence that the PBOC notice comes just a few days before China CITIC Bank planned to issue one million virtual credit cards (using Alipay Wallet) with the creditworthiness of applicants based solely on the consumers’ online shopping histories.

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