Court rejects PCI Pal’s motion to dismiss patent lawsuit

BOSTON, MA and GUILDFORD, UK - June 23, 2022 - Sycurio™, the leading provider of data security and compliance for call and contact centers, announced today that following a hearing on April 18, 2022, the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina has issued an Order denying defendant PCI Pal (US) Inc.’s motion to dismiss Sycurio’s complaint alleging that PCI Pal’s “Agent Assist” secure card payment software infringes four of Sycurio’s U.S. Patents directed to “Signal detection and blocking for voice processing equipment” (the US Patents). In its motion, PCI Pal contended that Sycurio’s US patents were invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101 for allegedly failing to claim patent-eligible subject matter. After full consideration of the arguments and the legal briefs of the parties on PCI Pal’s motion to dismiss, the Court agreed with Sycurio’s arguments and rejected PCI Pal’s assertions regarding invalidity of the patents. The Court’s denial of PCI Pal’s motion means that Sycurio’s patent infringement lawsuit against PCI Pal will proceed as anticipated.  

The Sycurio patents at issue concern Sycurio’s DTMF (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency) masking technology, which provides a secure method for processing credit and debit card payments by telephone in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Sycurio has filed a companion lawsuit in the U.K. for infringement of Sycurio’s related UK patent, which lawsuit is presently scheduled for trial in June 2023. Sycurio seeks damages and injunctive relief to prevent further sales and marketing of the “Agent Assist” product in violation of Sycurio’s patent rights.

“Sycurio has invested significant resources in its call and contact center PCI DSS solutions that protect confidential payment card data and in building an intellectual property portfolio around those solutions,” said Gary Lumsdon, interim CEO of Sycurio. “The Company intends to diligently protect its patent rights for the benefit of our investors, customers, partners, and employees and prevent infringing use of our patented technologies by others. Sycurio remains confident in the value of its patent portfolio.”