USAA Wins Patent Agreement With Discover, Vows To Keep Going After Banks

Eugene Mar spoke to American Banker for the article, "USAA Wins Patent Agreement With Discover, Vows To Keep Going After Banks."

Link (subscription required): https://www.americanbanker.com/news/usaa-wins-patent-agreement-with-discover-vows-to-keep-going-after-banks

Eugene said this becomes a business decision for a company like Discover. "You're looking at the cost-benefit analysis of doing a pretty engaged litigation campaign," he said. "If you defend and if you look at what, for example, PNC and Wells Fargo have gone through, you can just tell by the volume of that litigation it's expensive and it's still ongoing. Then you balance that versus what is most likely a fairly expensive license, but you would then be done with that cost."

Eugene wonders which companies USAA will go after next. It can keep bringing these cases before the patent-friendly East Texas court as long as the defendants are national companies with offices in Texas, he noted.

If it tries to go after a smaller regional bank that does not have a presence in Texas, that bank may be able to shift the trial to a court in its market, where a jury may be less sympathetic to USAA's complaints.