Kount, a provider of fraud-fighting technology, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against iovation, a provider of device-based fraud management services.
According to Kount, the lawsuit accuses iovation of infringing US patent number 7,330,871 titled ‘online machine data collection and archiving process’, which describes a method for identifying and physically locating a customer computer involved in an online transaction.
Several of iovation’s products are specifically mentioned in the lawsuit, including its ReputationManager, Device Reputation Authority, and ReputationShield offerings.
The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief as well as unspecified damages from iovation for infringing on Kount’s device fingerprinting and proxy piercing fraud control technologies.
Issued on February 12, 2008, the patent contains 12 claims supported by specifications filed as early as June of 2000. The claims cover specific methods for detecting perpetrators of fraud online.
In addition to device fingerprinting, the claims in the patent cover proxy piercing technology. Proxy piercing is used to geolocate computers users who deploy anonymizing techniques in an attempt to hide their true physical location.
Steven Rouse, COO of Kount, said: Over the years we have invented numerous technologies to protect online merchants. The collection of key machine parameters to create a device fingerprint is one of many components of our fraud detection capability.
