A New Jersey-based company is claiming the CTA and Cubic Corporation–the company that rolled out the Ventra system–infringed on its patents for card reader technologies.
Smart Systems Innovations, LLC has five patents on technology it claims was mirrored to create the Ventra card reader system last year, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court.
Smart Systems says it “was an early developer of open payments technologies,” allowing riders to pay fares using bank cards. The company first worked with a South Korean partner and then gained exclusive rights to develop the systems in the United States, the suit said.
The company was issued the five patents between November 2004 and March 2014, including ones titled “Non-Contacting Type Radio Frequency Recognizing Credit Card System” and “Learning Fare Collection System For Mass Transit.”
Smart Systems claims both the CTA and Cubic knew about the patents when Cubic was tapped to develop the Ventra System in November 2011.
A CTA spokeswoman said the suit had not been reviewed as of Wednesday evening and declined to comment.
A spokeswoman for Cubic Corporation said the company had no comment. Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc. and Cubic Transportation Systems Chicago, Inc. were also named as defendants.
The five-count suit claims infringement on each of the five patents. Among the demands, Smart Systems is asking for the CTA and Cubic to stop the infringement, pay out damages and make an accounting of their sales, profits, royalties and damages owed.
