Plaintiff Peter Sprogis holds U.S. Patent No. 7,298,271 for a “Method and apparatus for providing awards using transponders.” The ‘271 patent abstract describes a customer loyalty program using ‘electronic data storage elements’ (EDSE) like RFID tages can be used to encourage customer loyalty by offering coupons or loyalty points for visiting a business.
Sprogis accuses Google of infringing at least nine claims listed in his patent.
The plaintiff’s claims appear to paint a wide swath over Google’s app. Google Wallet enables Android phone users to securely store credit and debit card information on their mobile devices to shop locally as well as online.
Sprogis’s patent also includes a description of a customer walking into a store carrying EDSE information, enabling the consumer’s information “to be interrogated and read,” sent to a data processing facility, and be given an award. The picture below depicts a customer with an EDSE reader in his backpocket being “interrogated and read” as he approaches a store register:
In addition to Google, Sprogis also sued another company, JVL Ventures, LLC, over its Isis Mobile Wallet Android app. That lawsuit alleges infringement of the same patent claims as in the Google Wallet case.
Read Sprogis’s claims in his patent infringement lawsuit over the Google Wallet app below:
Complaint for Patent Infringement (Sprogis v. Google, Inc.)
Image credits: Sprogis v. Google Inc. case docket