On suspected patent infringement of PSOCA in South Africa, 3MFuture Africa (Pty) Ltd. has started a lawsuit against

MTN

mobile network operator and Standard Bank. Numourous media have reported on the case, in South Africa and internationally, and more is to come. Here is a summary of the main media reports on the case thus far .. and the case is ongoing.

Prime News on MTN and their patent infringement:

Business Report 9 April 2010
SCAN: MTN Banking sued on patent
Inventor files R1bn claim for infringement
original article - MTN Banking - patent
- Title story of the Business Report
- The Business Report is the business section in many daily newspapers in South Africa: E.g. Cape Times, The Star, Pretoria News, etc.

In a David and Goliath clash two of South Africa's largest companies, Standard Bank and MTN, have been served with summonses that could result in a claim nearing R1 billion.
The claim is for alleged infringement of technology patents in establishing and running the joint Standard Bank-MTN cellphone banking venture, MTN Banking.
The claim is by 3MFuture Africa ... [read more]

Mail & Guardian 9 April 2010
SCAN: IT whizz takes on big guns
original article - Standard Bank / MTN patent infringement
- With photo of Dr Reiners

Standard Bank, the MTN Group and subsidiary MTN Mobile Money are being sued for damages that could amount to more than half a billion rands, it emerged this week.
The claim has been lodged by 3MFuture Africa, which alleges that all three entities have conspired to infringe a patent it holds for a transaction authorisation system named PSOCA.
3MFuture's papers were filed late this week at the Court of the Commissioner of Patents.
In a forensic audit ... [read more]

e TV News - 13 April 2010 - 22:00
VIDEO: MTN and Standard Bank are being forced to calculate exactly what they have earned through cellphone banking technology.
[Best to right-click and save. 6 MB]
- 2 minutes TV news in prime time
- Interview with Adv Heath and Dr Reiners

REUTERS - 10 April 2010
UPDATE 1-MTN, Standard Bank face $136 mln claim

JOHANNESBURG, April 9 (Reuters) - South Africa's telecom company MTN (MTNJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research) and Standard Bank (SBKJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research) face a claim of up to 1 billion rand ($136.4 million) for infringement of technology patents in their joint venture MTN Banking.

The head of South African technology company 3MFuture, Wolfram Reiners, said on Friday that MTN and Standard Bank have been served with summons to appear in patent court ... [read more]

NOSEWEEK - July 2010
SCAN: Bank Robbery on the Increase
original article: Standard Bank and MTN infringe on patent

It has become all too common for SA companies to market, as their own, products presented to them by inventors of limited means. Some clever bloke invents something bloody marvellous and approaches a large corporate; their geeks take a look - and everyone lives happily thereafter. Everyone but the inventor, that is. A common story. [read more]

* * * * * *

Further news on MTN and their patent infringement:

REUTERS - 9 April 2010
MTN, Standard Bank face $136 mln claim - report
MTN Banking venture sued for patent technology

The Econonic Times 9 April 2010
MTN, Standard Bank face $136 mln claim: Report REUTERS

MoneyWeb - 9 April 2010
MTN Banking faces patent claim: Advocate Willem Heath – former judge
- Interview with Adv Willem Heath
- Transscript and audio track available from this page

Businessweek / Bloomberg - 09 April 2010
Standard Bank Receives Summons Over Technology in MTN Venture
- With interview parts from Adv Willem Heath and from Dr Wolfram Reiners, Director 3MFuture Africa

Next - 10 April 2010
MTN, Standard Bank face $136 million claim
- Please note the comments on this article from readers at the bottom.
- Please note the MTN FIFA World Cup ad on top of the article - MTN is a prime sponsor to the World Cup.

Times Live - 10 April 2010
The Bad …
- A collection of recent corporate "bad behaviour"

Ecommerce Journal - 10 April 2010
Standard Bank and MTN sued for mobile money venture

ITweb - 12 April 2010
MTN, Standard Bank face legal battle
- Includíng an interview with Dr Wolfram Reiners, Director 3MFuture Africa on the behaviour of Standard Bank

BusinessDay - 12 April 2010
Standard Bank, MTN face claim

Legalbrief - 14 April 2010
Inventor files patent claim against Standard, MTN

SABC News - 09 April 2010
MTN, Standard Bank face R1 billion infringement claim
- SABC operate the public TV stations of South Africa
- Half of the article mentions MTN's Fifa-World-Cup sponsorship and investment!

Fin24 - 9 April 2010
MTN, Standard face R1bn claim

MoneyWeb - 9 April 2010
MTN banking faces patent claim

GanaBusinessNews - 9 April 2010
MTN, Standard Bank face one billion rand claim

Mobile-Financial.com - 9 April 2010
South Africa's MTN and Standard Bank face a multi-million dollar mobile banking patent infringement claim

AND MANY MORE ....

Follow-up articles on MTN and their patent infringement:

Business Daily - 22 April 2010
M-pesa reaps from MTN’s legal tussle in bid to enter SA

- Reports that MTN and Standard Bank could be forced to pay up to $136 million for a patent infringement could prove beneficial for M-Pesa as it seeks to enter the lucrative South African market, it has emerged [...] Vodafone announced its intention to launch M-PESA in South Africa through its subsidiary, Vodacom South Africa, using Nedbank as its banking partner in February.

UniGobalUnion - 20 April 2010
MTN and Standard Bank subject to legal action

- The action could delay the launch of the companies' mobile money service, proving beneficial for M-Pesa and Vodafone, who are also planning to enter the South African mobile money market ...

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This is how 3MFuture has always marketed the secure PSOCA payment mechanism: Consumers can switch on / switch off their card via their cellphone. Merchants can only transact with activated (switched on) cards.

		Figure: PSOCA card displayed on a mobile phone. The card is normally deactivated and can only be activated by the cardholder.

And this is how MTN and Standard Bank do it. Same or different?