Nathan Myhrvold
Nathan Myhrvold

Intellectual Ventures, the patent holding company led by former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold, is turning its attention to financial institutions. Today, the Bellevue-based firm — which has already engaged in litigation with the likes of Toshiba, CanonSymantecAT&T, CenturyLink and Windstream,— announced that it has sued two financial services firms: First National Bank of Omaha and PNC. (Follow links for full complaints).

“As the owner of patented technologies being used by companies in the banking industry, Intellectual Ventures approached First National Bank of Omaha and PNC to discuss licensing options for the technologies they infringe. These discussions were not productive, and today we filed infringement complaints in the US District court for the District of Nebraska and the US District court for the Western District of Pennsylvania,” said IV’s Chief Litigation Counsel Melissa Finocchio in a statement.

Intellectual Ventures claims that First National Bank of Omaha is infringing on a number of patents — including 5,745,574, 6,826,694 and 6,715,084 — which cover things such as Security Infrastructure For Electronic Transactions; High Resolution Access Control; and Firewall System And Method Via Feedback From Broad-Scope Monitoring For Intrusion Detection.

IV also said in the legal documents that it has acquired more than 70,000 patents during its 13-year history, and now has earned more than $3 billion by licensing those patents to other companies who “use them to make computer equipment, software, semiconductor devices, and a host of other products.”

Previously on GeekWireMyhrvold to Slashdot: We’re more alike than you think… Myhrvold to Microsoft alumni: ‘We participated in one of the most beneficial revolutions in human history’

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