USAA targets Truist in latest lawsuit over mobile-deposit patents

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An unidentified man using a smart phone walks through London's Canary Wharf financial district in the evening light in London
An unidentified man using a smart phone walks through a street. Picture taken September 28, 2018. REUTERS/Russell Boyce
  • Truist accused of copying tech for depositing checks by phone USAA has won over $500 million from other banks in related cases

(Reuters) - Financial services company United Services Automobile Association sued Truist Bank in East Texas federal court on Friday, alleging Truist's mobile check-deposit technology infringes three of its patents.

USAA has already won over $500 million in cases against Wells Fargo and PNC Bank in the same court for violating related patents.

USAA, which caters to U.S. military service members and their families, declined to comment on Monday. Truist also declined to comment.

The lawsuit said Charlotte, North Carolina-based Truist's system to deposit checks using images captured on a mobile device mimics technology that USAA pioneered. San Antonio-based USAA said it created the technology in the mid-2000s to allow its members to deposit checks from abroad.

USAA also said Truist infringed its patents knowingly, noting its lawsuits against PNC and Wells Fargo were "widely discussed in the banking industry."

USAA won $218 million from PNC Bank and over $300 million from Wells Fargo for copying its technology in jury verdicts in East Texas.

Wells Fargo and USAA later settled for an undisclosed amount. PNC has asked Judge Rodney Gilstrap to throw out the May verdict against it.

The case is United Services Automobile Association v. Truist Bank, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, No. 2:22-cv-00291.

For USAA: Jason Sheasby and Lisa Glasser of Irell & Manella.

For Truist: not available

(NOTE: This story has been updated to add Truist declined to comment.)

Read more:

Wells Fargo slapped with $200 million patent verdict in East Texas

USAA wins $218 mln verdict from PNC in mobile-deposit tech trial

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Blake Brittain reports on intellectual property law, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, for Reuters Legal. He has previously written for Bloomberg Law and Thomson Reuters Practical Law and practiced as an attorney. Contact: 12029385713

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