Lighthouse Consulting Group, LLC v. CitiGroup, Inc.

Inventor-controlled NPE Lighthouse Consulting Group LLC has hit more than 30 banks over their mobile apps’ remote check deposit features since launching its campaign in July, and now two of the companies responsible for those features have stepped in. On December 2 and 3, Lighthouse was hit with declaratory judgment (DJ) complaints filed by Jack Henry & Associates (6:19-cv-00682) and NCR (2:19-cv-00392), both of which have identified customers of their online banking software that have been accused of infringement. Those latest actions follow another wave of affirmative infringement suits brought by the NPE in mid-November against Independent Financial (2:19-cv-00373), LegacyTexas Financial Group (LegacyTexas Bank) (2:19-cv-00374), Southside Bank (2:19-cv-00375), and Texas Bank and Trust (2:19-cv-00376). Jack Henry’s complaint, meanwhile, echoes an earlier DJ action filed by the company against another NPE that led to a notable appellate ruling on the venue implications of letter-writing campaigns.

Ally Financial (6:19-cv-00592), American Express (6:19-cv-00593), BB&T (6:19-cv-00594), Charles Schwab (6:19-cv-00595), Fifth Third Bank (6:19-cv-00596), HSBC (6:19-cv-00598), Morgan Stanley (6:19-cv-00599), and Regions Financial (Regions Bank) (6:19-cv-00601) have all been added as defendants in the campaign that Lighthouse Consulting Group LLC began with August cases against Bank of Princeton, CitiGroup, Investors Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Kearny, and Wells Fargo and continued with a September suit against TD Bank. Throughout, Lighthouse has asserted two patents generally related to using an “image device” such as a “fax” or a scanner to capture and transmit images of checks and deposit slips to a bank, targeting the mobile deposit features within the defendants’ banking apps.

Lighthouse Consulting Group LLC has followed up its July case against Bank of America with August suits hitting CitiGroup (2:19-cv-00264) and Wells Fargo (2:19-cv-00269). Two patents—generally related to using an “image device” such as a “fax” or a scanner to capture and transmit images of checks and deposit slips to a bank—are asserted in all three complaints, with infringement allegations focused on mobile deposit features within the defendants’ banking apps. Lighthouse Consulting Group alleges that each defendant signed a separate nondisclosure agreement in 2007 under which the earliest applications in the asserted family of patents were discussed.

In a new Eastern District of Texas case, Bank of America (2:19-cv-00250) has been accused of infringing two patents generally related to using “ubiquitous imaging devices” to capture and transmit check images to a bank. The plaintiff is Lighthouse Consulting Group LLC, which targets Bank of America over the provision of a remote deposit feature within its “Mobile Checking Application”, perhaps a reference to the defendant’s mobile banking app. Lighthouse Consulting Group alleges that the defendant has been aware of the patents-in-suit since it entered into a non-disclosure agreement with the plaintiff in 2007.