Continuing their campaign of suing banks, Intellectual Ventures has filed patent infringement lawsuits against Bank of America and BBVA Compass Bank. This is the third time in as many weeks that Nathan Myhrvold’s patent holding company has filed suits against members of the financial sector — a rapid litigation pace which indicates that large banks have chosen not to play ball with the former Microsoft CTO.
Those two banks join four others, including First National Bank of Omaha, Fifth Third Bank, PNC and JP Morgan Chase, which have been sued by the firm.
“Despite attempts at productive licensing discussions, we were not able to reach an agreement with either company and as a result, we’ve filed patent infringement complaints to stop the unlicensed use of our patents,” the company wrote in a blog post about the new litigation.
The lawsuits come amid increased scrutiny of patent holding firms, with President Barack Obama last week issuing a five-point plan to curb the activities of firms which largely use patents as a weapon.
Previously on GeekWire: Watch out, Intellectual Ventures? President Obama says enough with patent shenanigans…This American Life: Intellectual Ventures got 90% of ongoing profits even after selling patent
