DISQUS

This is all getting a bit redundant. All of this back and forth , he said, she said. Datatreasury (Claudio Ballard) claims to be the original inventor who invented, patented and attempted to market this technology years before the Check 21 Act was enacted (or even 9/11 for that fact). Apparently his views are supported by the USPTO and several US Courts after several futile attempts to invalidate said patents. The Banks on the other hand are claiming they were forced to use this technology after 9/11 in the name of homeland security and by doing so fell prey to a patent infringement lawsuit. Datareasury is claiming their technology is saving the banks in excess of $30 Billion a year. Datatreasury feels that this is an opportunity for the banks and not a sacrifice or a burden as they would have everyone believe. Datatresury believes they should be afforded just compensation for their intellectual property as dictated by the USPTO and the US Constitution. The banks(other than JP Morgan Chase and a couple of others who early on have recognized the value and licensed said patents)believe that they are above the laws that govern everyone else and therefore are lobbying Congress to legislate a new law that would shift the liability for any patent infringement to the taxpayers while they reap the profits.
The sooner this goes to trial, the sooner it will be put to rest. Unfortunately for the banks, the final decision will be in the hands of a jury of scorned taxpayers.

Datatreasury did everything by the book. In hindsight everything is obvious, but 10 plus years ago when it was conceived it was not. Datatreasury's patents describe a process that is much more intricate than many of it's critics describe or even understand for that fact. It is for these reasons that the patents in question have already withstood the most vigorous attempts to invalidate them. The amendment, by the way isn't even disputing the validity of these patents or the right of Datatreasury to collect royalties. The only thing that this legislation proposes doing is shifting the liability for paying those royalties away from the banks to the American taxpayer. The Congressional Budget office went as far as posting a cost estimate for such takings(albeit grossly under valued, even by the CBO's own formula): http://datatreasury.com/pdf/CBO%20Scoring%20-%2...

Enabling and promoting innovation. That seems to be the number one answer on the campaign trail to solving problems with global warming issues and our troubled economy. As the candidates are out there pounding the pavement touting American innovation and how it holds the answers to our problems of rising food and fuel costs, the Congress is busy behind closed doors legislating away the very incentives that make inventing something viable and profitable to the inventor. If actions speak louder than words, as I believe they do, then what kind of message are we sending to our future innovators. Spend your time, your money and your investors money to fund and invent something valuable and then have your property rights legislated away so someone else who is more well funded and politically connected so that they can profit from it. I find it very interesting how everybody else is so generous with other peoples money. “Charity begins at home”. What happened to Democracy...and in an election year!

Enabling and promoting innovation. That seems to be the number one answer on the campaign trail to solving problems with global warming issues and our troubled economy. As the candidates are out there pounding the pavement touting American innovation and how it holds the answers to our problems of rising food and fuel costs, the Congress is busy behind closed doors legislating away the very incentives that make inventing something viable and profitable to the inventor. If actions speak louder than words, as I believe they do, then what kind of message are we sending to our future innovators. Spend your time, your money and your investors money to fund and invent something valuable and then have your property rights legislated away so someone else who is more well funded and politically connected so that they can profit from it. I find it very interesting how everybody else is so generous with other peoples money. “Charity begins at home”. What happened to Democracy...and in an election year!