AnywhereCommerce Announces the Creation of a Board of Advisors

AnywhereCommerce

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - November 2011) - AnywhereCommerce today confirmed the election of four advisors to its newly created Board of Advisory.

The new members are;

OB Rawls IV; SVP at Tasq, has over 30 year's experience in the banking and electronic transaction payments business. During his career, Mr. Rawls, has held senior management position at several industry leading companies and most recently as SVP of Sales globally for Hypercom Corporation.

Des Docherty; has been with Visa for more than 15 years in executive-level business development capacities. With his strategic mind and natural creative ability, Des brings a highly desirable perspective and expertise to the payment industry. His professional philosophy is one dedicated to focusing on the distinct and individual needs of each stakeholder for sustained long-term relationships.

Jesse Adams, Former Executive Vice Chairman at VeriFone the largest POS manufacturer in the world. Jesse brings 30 years of senior executive experience in the payment processing business and became instrumental in the creation and development of the business of automating credit/debit card processing automation at the Point of Sale (POS). He has worked for vendors of hardware, software, & processing services that enable card transactions at the point of sale and on-line.

Najeeb Kahlid, is an Engineer who has founded a number of successful high tech companies. He is frequently cited in the Walls Street Journal and has served on a number of Corporate boards as well as the Montreal Neurological Institute. Najeeb has been awarded patents in fields as diverse as the Internet, lasers, optics, automation, light emitting diodes, system architecture, and software. Najeeb continues his pursuits in addition to lecturing at McGill University, Concordia, Ecole Polytechnique, Pakistan University of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad University in India, MIT Sloan School and the Pakistan Institute of Publics Administration.

Commenting on the Board's creation, Mitchell Cobrin, President & CEO said, "AnywhereCommerce is humbled and honored with the new slate of Advisors. It's a privilege to have access to such experts, we have already begun to realize value on their contributions."

Lost Credit Card Claims Climb 19 Percent During the Holidays

PNC Tells Holiday Shoppers to Stay Alert

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Reports of lost or stolen credit and debit cards jump an average of 19 percent in November and December compared to the rest of the year, according to PNC Bank. The country's fifth largest bank reviewed its reports of lost and stolen credit and debit cards from 2008 through 2010 and found holiday shoppers can be a little forgetful.    

"Holiday shopping can be a hectic experience," said Mark Ford, consumer credit and debit card expert at PNC Bank. "Losing a credit or debit card, whether by theft or by accident, is often a preventable problem."

PNC says one reason for the increase in the number of lost and stolen credit and debit cards during the holiday season is simply increased usage of credit and debit cards -- combined with the confusion and chaos of long lines and packed stores.

The fraud fighters at PNC suggest four easy ways to keep tabs on your plastic:

Four Ways to Keep Your Cards

• Know where your cards are at all times, and never leave your wallet or purse unattended - even for a minute.
• Never give your credit or debit card account number or PINs to anyone you don't know over the computer or the phone.
• Don't allow anyone else to use your credit or debit card and never co-sign for a card that will be used by another person without your supervision.
• Be sure to get your card back when you use it for purchases.  Also be sure you can see your card at all times when it's being used for a transaction.

If Your Card is Lost or Stolen

• Call your bank and let them know your credit or debit card has been lost or stolen.
• File a report with the police and get a copy of it for your records.
• Change you PIN, and password immediately.

More information on preventing credit and debit card fraud can be found in the Security Assurance section on PNC.com.

PNC Bank, National Association, is a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC).  PNC (www.pnc.com) is one of the nation's largest diversified financial services organizations providing retail and business banking; residential mortgage banking; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset management. Follow @PNCNews on Twitter for breaking news and announcements from PNC.

Monext's International Acquiring Platform PCI DSS Certified

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France, November 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Following the certification of its call centre and its Payline and Pavavenue payment solutions, Monext has received yet another quality guarantee. Its international acquiring platform, which enables merchants based in Europe to manage VISA and MasterCard payments, has just been PCI DSS certified (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). The audit was carried out by XMCO, a consulting firm for information system security. Monext thus becomes the first and only French company to have its international acquiring platform PCI DSS certified.

Merchants reaching beyond borders

Monext, a key player in electronic payment in France and within Europe, offers a global solution for the acquiring of international bank flows. Aimed at buyers (i.e. banks, financial institutions, payment institutions) and their commercial clients (in shops or online), this platform allows them to manage cross-border payment transactions made using VISA or MasterCard cards. The platform covers the full value chain: authorisation, remote data collection, monitoring, calculating merchants' fees, accounting interface, and remittance of funds through the banking partner. It also offers multi-currency reporting services, multilingual call centres, European-wide dispute management, etc.

Monext provides banks with the means to manage the issues involved with the growth of their merchants' international business, who will only need a single acquiring bank across all of Europe. In particular BNP PARIBAS and UNICRE (Portugal), Monext platform clients, are using the system in several European countries, including France, Austria, Spain, Ireland, Portugal, andSlovenia.  

PCI DSS certification

This certification guarantees maximum-security processing for banking institutions which outsource their international acquiring services. The certification meets the international standards established by the PCI Council organisation, made up of card networks (MasterCard, VISA, American Express, etc.). It aims to set standards for the secure storage and manipulation of supplied data.

Frédéric Charpentier, of XMCO, explains: "Monext's international acquiring platform meets the 220 security needs. The certification audit has therefore been declared successful."

Gilles Férec, Monext's director of operations, notes: "This certification, which recognises the quality and reliability of our services, is another sign of our commitment to banks and their customers. Our international platform meets the dual requirements of facilitating banking transactions while continually increasing their security."

About Monext

Monext is a key player in the French electronic payment industry. It is a pure-play electronic banking company covering the entire value chain. The business generates an annual turnover of more than € 60M and employs 480 associates to manage more than:

1. 6.5 million debit and credit cards
2. 900 million transactions in 2010
3. 100,000 POS terminals

Monext provides innovative transaction solutions, with or without cards, including electronic payments made at a point of sale, online or via mobile device, in a manner that is secure, reliable, and immediate. With customers in the banking, distribution, trade and commerce industries, Monext aims to become a European leader in a sector that is experiencing strong growth.

http://www.monext.eu

About XMCO

Founded in 2002, XMCO is an independent consultancy firm, specialising in information systems security and counter-cybercrime. Its core business is security auditing. The team, made up of 15 technical experts, carries out more than 10 intrusion tests each month on the computerised environments of telecoms, banks, insurance companies, and industrial firms. XMCO is also officially certified by CERT, whose mission consists of monitoring the emergence of new threats and notifying its clients and providing support when clients suffer information system intrusions.

http://www.xmco.fr

Veritec Announces a Patent Portfolio

NOW NUMBERING 20 PATENTS 

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn., Nov. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Veritec, Inc. (OTC: VRTC) today announced that their patent portfolio has reached 20 worldwide patents.  As a technology company, Veritec has built a considerable presence in the fields of two-dimensional Matrix Symbology, Secure identification for people and products, Secure financial transactions, and Multi-purpose cards or mobile devices that facilitate financial transactions and other applications. Veritec's recent Partnership Agreement with National Identity Solutions (NIS) of Norcross, Georgia and with Antero Payment Solutions Inc. of Harbor City, California will benefit from the strong technology position held by Veritec.

Veritec's two-dimensional Matrix Symbology patents provide the ability to improve the quality of reading Veritec's proprietary two-dimensional codes in conditions where other two-dimensional codes would be difficult or impossible to read. Veritec's proprietary two-dimensional codes, VeriCode® and VSCode® hold more data using less space, up to 4,450 bytes of data, have adjustable error correction, read in any rotation with up to 60 degrees of skew, and are highly secure. For applications that need a robust, highly secured two-dimensional code, there are no better offerings in the market than the VeriCode® and VSCode® available from Veritec. Veritec has also been awarded patents on a new two-dimensional Matrix Symbology that has the potential of 50,000 bytes of data per square inch using standard code printers and readers. 

Veritec's two-dimensional codes are being used for product inventory, product secure identification and product manufacturing automation, on mobile phones and financial cards to conduct secure financial transactions, as marketing tools on mobile phones for coupons, ticketing, and gift cards, for Biometric identification cards and many more practical and highly secure projects. Veritec's new Multi-purpose Card or Mobile Device can facilitate secure financial transactions and at the same time act as employee identification, health care identification, employee payroll and many more applications all in a single card or mobile device application. Veritec patents that encompass these technologies and markets provide a strong position for Veritec and partners.

"Veritec has a, "State of the Art", technology base that will add security and new features and benefits to the markets served by Veritec. The technical staff at Veritec has a proud reputation for providing the best technology to serve our customers," statesThomas Look, Chief Technology Officer of Veritec.

Van Thuy Tran, Executive Chair of Veritec states "We are all proud at Veritec to have achieved this strong portfolio of Intellectual Property. Veritec continues to aggressively build our Company surrounded by our two dimensional bar code technologies and mobile communications that will be the corner stone of secure identification and financial transactions while reducing complexity and costs."

ABOUT VERITEC, INC.

Founded in 1982, Veritec offers a patented line of encoding and decoding software products that utilize the 2-D Matrix Symbology™, which allows users to create, apply, store, or transmit unique identifiers directly on the products or to an electronic device in the form of a coded matrix symbol, which enables automated manufacturing control, as well as identification, tracking, and collection of data via cameras, mobile phones, readers and scanners. The collected data can then be stored in the 2-D barcode available for contemporaneous verification or other user-definable purposes. Veritec's 2-D Matrix Symbologies, the VeriCode® and VSCodes®, with its incredible robustness, security features, and large data storage capacity, have proven to be the technology of choice for products tracking, identification, and verification in many automated industries. Veritec technologies are also applicable in the Secure Bio-ID Cards to provide positive identification via biometric markers such as fingerprints, or pictures. Veritec's licensed software products have recently been introduced to the banking industries via Stored-Value Debit Cards. In the mobile phone industry, Veritec has patented the "PhoneCodes™" products that allow an individual using the Internet or mobile phones to purchase, send, or receive a gift certificate, ticket, coupon, receipt or transfer money.

Further details about Veritec's technologies and its multiple applications can be found on Veritec, Inc.'s website atwww.veritecinc.com; www.vtfs.com; www.blinxcard.com

Gemalto Deploys First Contactless EMV Payment Cards in Brazil for Santander Universities

November 22, 2011 01:00 AM Eastern Time 

Forecast of rapid growth in the contactless EMV payment market in the country

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, was chosen by Banco Santander Brasil, one of the largest financial institutions in the world, with more than 90 million customers worldwide, to deploy the first contactless EMV payment system in Brazil. Santander Universities Global Division, responsible for the project, expects to issue thousands of contactless payment cards to Brazilian university students over the next 12 months. This innovation represents the evolution of the University Smart Card, which is already widespread in 12 countries, in more than 200 universities and with 5 million users.

“Banco Santander has been taking advantage of Gemalto's ability to produce and personalize high volumes of contactless EMV cards locally, so that it can provide the contactless payment experience to a new generation of card users.”

This important breakthrough allows Santander Universities to take the lead in the market, providing the new contactless technology along with financial and academic functions. Rapid growth in the contactless EMV payment market is expected in the country. Santander is the first bank in Brazil to issue personalized contactless EMV cards, which are produced in the country. In addition, it is well positioned in the expansion of more advanced payment programs, such as through cell phones, using NFC contactless technology.

Besides the speed and convenience of contactless payments, students in Brazil will continue enjoying the features of the university smart cards they already have. These features include EMV security, digital ID, strong authentication and access to university facilities, as well as public transportation in some universities.

"The card offers unmatched technology in our market and gives us a leading edge that adds great value to our brand, positioning and activities. We want to strengthen our ties with universities offering state-of-the-art technology, which improves the operation of the institutions,” said Jamil Hannouche, Director of Santander Universities in Brasil.

"Santander Universities and Gemalto have built a strong business relationship and bringing a new payment technology to Brazilian students fosters our commitment to secure payments anywhere,” said Eric Megret-Dorne, Senior Vice-President of Secure Transactions, Gemalto Latin America. “Banco Santander has been taking advantage of Gemalto's ability to produce and personalize high volumes of contactless EMV cards locally, so that it can provide the contactless payment experience to a new generation of card users.”

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security with 2010 annual revenues of €1.9 billion and over 10,000 employees operating out of 87 offices and 13 Research & Development centers in 45 countries.

ReD Targets Previously Anonymous Cyber Criminals with New IP Intelligence

For Immediate Release:

ReD Shield^TM upgrade to IP Geo-location provides enhanced data on suspicious IP addresses leading to a 50-70% reduction in order cancellations, and therefore a 30-50% improvement in orders processed successfully.

London,  November 22, 2011 – ReD, a world leader in payment fraud prevention and payment processing, has announced an upgrade to its Internet Protocol (IP) Geo-location detection technology which enables ReD to track fraud threats using IP identification and geo-location information.

This is an important development for retailers because the use of IP geo-location technology as part of a risk strategy means that the genuine origin location of an online order can be quickly and accurately checked.  Merchants are then able to decline suspicious transactions.

Payment fraudsters trick the merchant by anonymising their IP location.  This means the computer location cannot be seen and, in some cases the device can be made to appear in a location that it is not. For example, a computer user based in Africa could make their IP address appear like it originated in the US and vice-versa.

Erika Gallo, Director of Global Risk Management at ReD commented: “IP anonymising has been a long-standing issue for many retailers, spikes in fraud from certain countries has, in some cases, led to a halt in international expansion. In an ideal world, retailers would like to be able to accept all genuine orders, wherever they originate from – working with ReD allows retailers to do this.”

The new advances in geo-location technology deployed by ReD means that wherever fraudsters try to hide, ReD’s technology will always locate their true IP location.

Paul Stanley, CEO of ReD said: “The new IP geo-location technology identifies and tracks IP addresses flagged as “Anonymiser”. On average, rules with “Anonymiser” flagged in conjunction with other ReD Shield services, have a 50-70% cancellation rate, and since its trials, there has been a 30 to 50% improvement in orders processed successfully.”

About ReD

ReD is a world leader in card fraud prevention and payment processing.  A specialist supplier to the payments industry worldwide, ReD has over 20 years experience in the fraud prevention market. Its blue-chip international clients come from the global telecommunications, retail, travel, petroleum, banking and the broader e-commerce sectors. They include Air China, Coles, John Lewis, Shell, Shoprite, Target, Tesco, Texaco, T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile.

The company has offices in Australia, China, Germany, South Africa, United Kingdom, and United States, with representation in India, Korea, Japan, and South America. 

About ReD Shield^TM

ReD’s multi-dimensional approach to fraud enables merchants to increase their revenue while minimizing losses.  Using an unlimited number of variables and an unrivalled global database of ‘hot’ cards, ReD Shield detects and prevents fraud for many of the biggest companies in the world, including those in the airline and travel, retail, gaming and telecoms sectors. With every transaction it acts in a split-second, assembling and analyzing information, to determine whether a payment is genuine or not.

More information about ReD please visit: www.redplc.com

Despegar Selects GlobalCollect as Preferred Payment Service Provider to Drive Latin American Expansion

November 22, 2011 04:12 AM Eastern Time 

Despegar.com, the largest Online Travel Agency in Latin America, joins forces with GlobalCollect, the world's premier payment service provider of local e-payments, to grow its eCommerce footprint and revenue across the continent

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Since its inception in 1999, Despegar has grown into the leading one-stop-shop online travel agency (OTA) in Latin America for leisure and corporate travel. Offering access to more than 500 airlines, 70 car rental agencies, thousands of leisure packages, as well as up to 100,000 hotels worldwide via Hotels Despegar.com., the OTA currently operates 12 offices across Latin America to serve customers locally. To help standardize ePayment processes and streamline operations across the various countries, Despegar has entered into a strategic partnership with GlobalCollect, which currently facilitates all its international credit card payments.

Localized payment methods are key to succeed in Latin America

While eCommerce is growing in Latin America, it is still at a much earlier stage than in the US or Europe. As a consequence, credit card rejections are much higher than in more mature markets and fraud charge backs a real issue. GlobalCollect took an active role as a consultant here to advise on locally preferred payment methods, build relationships with local partners, and implement customized solutions allowing Despegar:

• To confirm transactions immediately since flights, hotels, rental cars, etc. are being booked in real time
• To receive an automated reporting and reconciliation tool for its high transaction volume to help streamline back office procedures
• To boost conversion rates by offering popular alternative payment products such as real-time bank transfers and cash solutions in the future

Martin Rastellino, COO of Despegar, says: “GlobalCollect combines a world-class payment technology with a strongly committed and knowledgeable team. We use them as our main payment service provider and they have been key in helping Despegar improving the customer payment experience as well as streamlining the fulfillment process. In summary, partnering with GlobalCollect has been highly beneficial for Despegar and being able to outsource a number of steps – for example meeting local regulations - empowers us to focus on our core business. We highly recommend GlobalCollect and look forward to expanding our partnership to broaden our range of payment methods and tap into further markets.”

Koen Vanpraet, CCO of GlobalCollect, continued: “We are delighted to play an active role in realizing Despegar’s online sales strategy. Of all verticals, the travel sector enjoys particular growth potential when it comes to eCommerce. A fact reflected by Despegar evolving from being one of the five largest traditional travel agencies in 1999 to the largest OTA to date in Latin America. Next to the overall growth trend, this success story is of course also testimony to Despegar’s outstanding product and service offer.”

#End#

About Despegar

Despegar.com is the largest travel agency in Latin America. Based in Miami and with a presence in 21 countries throughout the Latin American region and the US, the company employs 2,800 professionals. Via its website www.despegar.com you can buy tickets for 750 airlines, 150,000 hotels, cruises, and car rental services. You can buy online or via its own call centers – either way, Despegar.com always guarantees the lowest price in the market.

About GlobalCollect

GlobalCollect is the world's premier Payment Service Provider of local e-payment solutions for international Customer Not-Present (CNP) channels such as internet, mail, and telephone orders, and specializes in a wide range of industries such as travel, retail, online gaming, financial services, telecommunications, publishing, portals, and digital content. While most providers limit their services to a technical link with payment acquirers, GlobalCollect is a full service partner consulting clients on how to increase transaction volumes, expand distribution channels, and reduce costs by streamlining back office processes. Through a single-interface online payment platform, we offer access to an unrivalled portfolio of local and international payment methods in almost 200 countries, including all major credit and debit cards, direct debits, bank transfers, real-time bank transfers, eWallets, cash at outlets, prepaid methods, checks, and invoices. www.globalcollect.com

Compass Plus Survey At CARTES Reveals Payment Fraud And The Rise NFC Payments As The Key Industry Challenges In 2012

Published on Nov 21, 2011

A survey conducted by global payments software provider Compass Plus at the international payment and digital security event CARTES has revealed that payment fraud and the rise of mobile will be the key industry challenges in 2012. The survey took in the views of more than fifty respondents from the payments ecosystem including financial institutions, mobile operators, payment processors, digital security providers and the media.

 

The biggest issue for the payments industry today, according to 31% of respondents, is fraud, closely followed by the growth of NFC technology at 27%. The picture changes subtly as we move into 2012 with the majority respondents expecting mobile and NFC payments to take centre stage. Fraud will, however, remain a significant concern. Respondents also cited the following as critical issues in 2012: the ‘dematerialization’ of payments, the global economic crisis as well as either an increase or decrease in regulation following the arrival of new payment players.

 

When asked about fraud 29% of respondents consider Internet banking hacking poses the greatest threat in their region. Customer not present fraud at 26% was also a concern. The two key measures that will help in the fight against fraud are consumer education (29%) and the deployment of advanced fraud protection systems (27%).

 

The projected growth of mobile payment and NFC technology delivered contrasting results. Respondents were polarised on growth of NFC technology. 29% of respondents expected NFC technology to reach mass adoption in just 1-2 years while 27% believed this will take more than four years. In contrast there was more agreement among industry professionals regarding mobile payments. 42% of respondents expect mobile payments would reach critical mass in 2-3 years.

 

“The industry is clearly concerned with not only how to deal with new innovations such as mobile and NFC, but also how to guard against fraud as new payment technologies sit side by side with existing ones,” commented Maria Nottingham, Global Marketing Director, Compass Plus. “The survey results point to a wider trend. The proliferation of new payment technologies and industry players is creating an increasingly complex and competitive industry environment. To be successful in such an environment we believe service providers need to deliver customised innovative payment services to market quickly and cost effectively without compromising security and reliability. We look forward to helping service providers meet these challenges in 2012 and beyond.”*

Great NFC Infographic from NFC Rumors

Egypt and South Africa Mobile Payment Market Forecasts

• 
  Research and Markets: 3Q.2011 Egypt Mobile Payment Market Forecast 2009 - 2015: Gross Transaction Value to Rise to $4.8 Billion in 2015
  11/21/2011 - 05:12 AM
• 
  Research and Markets: 3Q.2011 South Africa Mobile Payment Market Forecast 2009 - 2015
  11/18/2011 - 07:51 AM

U.S. Leads the World in Credit Card Fraud, states The Nilson Report

November 21, 2011 03:30 AM Eastern Time 

The Nilson Report: Global Credit Card Fraud Losses Increased 10.2% over 2009

CARPENTERIA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The U.S. currently accounts for 47% of global credit and debit card fraud even though it generates only 27% of the total volume of purchases and cash, according to Global Card Fraud, from a recent issue of The Nilson Report, a respected trade newsletter on the payments industry.

“Competition among U.S. issuers, which has resulted in the average cardholder having four credit cards in their wallet, makes any issuer reluctant to decline an authorization. The consumer will just pull out a competitor’s card”

Payment card fraud losses totaled $3.56 billion last year in the U.S. from all general purpose and private label, signature and PIN payment cards. “The U.S. has a disproportionate percentage of the global total losses for two reasons . . . U.S. banks have been slow to adopt newer technologies such as EMV chip cards, and issuers are reluctant to decline card authorization from merchants because they don’t want to alienate their cardholder,” said David Robertson, publisher of The Nilson Report.

“Competition among U.S. issuers, which has resulted in the average cardholder having four credit cards in their wallet, makes any issuer reluctant to decline an authorization. The consumer will just pull out a competitor’s card,” said Robertson.

Banking institutions in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, however, have adopted stricter security procedures inherent in payment cards with computerized chips, as well as the use of dual factor and dynamic authentication (one-time passwords) for cards-not-present (CNP) transactions.

As a result, global card fraud worldwide as a percentage of total volume has actually decreased. In 2010, total fraud losses equaled 4.46¢ per $100 in total volume of purchases and cash, down from 4.71¢ per $100 in 2009. And, this amount has been steadily declining over a decade.

Total global fraud losses, at $7.60 billion, however, increased in 2010 by 10.2.% over the prior year, because the rate of spending is outpacing losses. The payment card industry is expected to continue to grow sales volume at a faster pace than thieves can compromise the system.

About The Nilson Report

The Nilson Report is a highly respected source of global news and analysis of the credit, debit and prepaid card industry. The subscription newsletter provides in-depth rankings and statistics on the current status of the industry, as well as company, personnel and product updates. Nilson Report Publisher, David Robertson, is a recognized expert in the field, and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Over 18,000 readers in 90 countries worldwide value The Nilson Report to track industry trends and market information.

Jollibee launches its online payment service with AsiaPay

Jollibee, the country’s largest and leading fast-food chain, launches its online payment service with AsiaPay, an electronic payment solution and technology provider in Asia and the company behind PesoPay, allowing Jollibee’s online delivery website to accept and collect credit card payments online.

November 21, 2011, Philippines – Jollibee Foods Corporation, the country’s largest fast-food chain, launches its online payment service with AsiaPay, an electronic payment solution and technology provider in Asia and the company behind PesoPay, to allow Jollibee’s online delivery website (www.jollibeedelivery.com) to accept and collect credit card payments online.

“AsiaPay’s industry experience combined with the robust PesoPay platform and ready-made shopping cart integration, made them our ideal partner for online payment processing,” said Sarwar Faruque, Project Manager – Digital Media Group of Jollibee Foods Corporation.

The integration of AsiaPay’s payment platform for the Philippine market, PesoPay, allows Jollibee to offer its customers to pay online using their credit cards with confidence and ease, therefore complementing Jollibee’s three-step ordering process. Additionally, PesoPay’s anti-fraud management tools will enable Jollibee to facilitate online payments securely, thereby detecting and preventing fraud before it happens.

“Our mission to provide secured and advanced online payment technologies to the market has been achieved with the successful launching of Jollibee’s online payment service for its online delivery website. Enabling Jollibee customers to make payments online, completes the whole electronic ordering cycle while adding value by providing security and ease of use. PesoPay is a powerful tool to all businesses regardless of nature and size, it is the only online payment service with fraud monitoring and other value-added features that are substantial to the security and productivity of online businesses,” comments Mr. Joseph Chan, CEO of AsiaPay.

The organic growth of AsiaPay is paving the way to more geographic and industry coverage as it starts to penetrate the Food and Beverage industry. AsiaPay currently has 11 offices in 9 countries servicing the Airlines, Hospitality, Bank / Financials, Retail, Non-profit Organizations, Telco, Insurance, Group Buying, and many other industries.

About AsiaPay

Founded in 2000, AsiaPay, a premier electronic payment solution and technology vendor and payment service provider, strives to bring advanced, secured, integrated, and cost-effective electronic payment processing solutions and services to banks and e-businesses in the worldwide market, covering international credit card, debit card and other prepaid card payments. AsiaPay is an accredited payment processor and payment gateway solution vendor for banks, certified IPSP for merchants, certified international 3D-Secure vendor for Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and JCB. AsiaPay offers its variety of award-winning payment solutions that are multi-currency, multi-lingual, multi-card, and multi-channel together with its advanced fraud detection and management solutions. Headquartered in Hong Kong, AsiaPay offers its professional e-payment solution consultancy and quality local service support across its other 9 offices in Asia including: Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Mainland China (3), Taiwan and Vietnam. For more information, please visit www.asiapay.com.ph and www.pesopay.com.

About Jollibee Foods Corporation

Jollibee is a phenomenal success story: what began as a two-branch ice cream parlor in 1975 offering hot meals and sandwiches became incorporated in 1978 with seven outlets to explore the possibilities of a hamburger concept. Thus was born the company that revolutionized fast food in the Philippines.

Through the years it worked its way up to become the country’s leading fast food chain and in 1993, Jollibee became the first food service company to be listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange; thus broadening its capitalization and laying the groundwork for sustained expansion locally and beyond the Philippines. Jollibee has grown exponentially on all aspects on operation. From a handful of stores 32 years ago, Jollibee now boasts of more than 700 stores and over 50 international stores.

Jollibee has dedicated its continuous success to the Filipinos who have been there from the very start.
Jollibee is so well-loved – that every time a new store opens, especially overseas, Filipinos always form long lines to the store. It is more than home for them. It is a stronghold of heritage and monument of Filipino victory.

For more information, please visit www.jollibee.com.ph.

Motorola fairly likely to win German patent injunction against iCloud in February -- Apple demands $2.7 Billion bail

Click to Enlarge.  The V-SIM Patent Covers "ANY"
3rd Party Authentication Done Outside the SIM Card.
i.e. Purchasing iTune on iPhone, Square, etc.

From the FOSS Patents Blog: The German city of Mannheim is slowly but surely giving Cupertino some serious headache.

After a default judgment against Apple Inc. over two patents and preliminary indications (a week ago) of a possible injunction or two (or three) in Samsung's favor in the second half of January, Apple experienced a dreadful hearing today in an action brought by Motorola Mobility against Apple Sales International, an Irish company that supplies products to many if not all German customers. The court doesn't appear to buy any of Apple's defenses at this stage. It may still change mind until the ruling, which is scheduled for February 3, 2012, 9 AM local time, but if it had had to rule today, I have no doubt that Apple would have lost.

In this litigation, MMI asserts only one patent:

EP (European Patent) 0847654 (B1) on a "multiple pager status synchronization system and method"; this is the European equivalent of U.S. Patent No. 5,754,119. This is one of the two patents asserted in the action in which a default judgment was entered against Apple.

Apple has not raised any standards-related defenses with respect to this one. Apple's counsel said that they're not currently aware of any industry standard this patent is essential to. (And there wasn't any talk about patent exhaustion either -- this is not a baseband patent.)

The court consistently rejected Apple's attempts to narrow the scope of the patent. The interpretation of the words "responsive to" was discussed in detail, and MMI's broader construction is the one supported by the court, at least at this stage. Apple will file a post-hearing pleading (as will MMI) until December 16, 2011. But it will be hard to achieve a narrower interpretation of the patent.

Apple's invalidity contentions appear to be dead in the water as far as the Mannheim court is concerned. Apple would have to show that their nullity action is more likely than not to succeed, and the court is very far from believing so.

Accused technologies: MobileMe and iCloudThe related complaint was filed on April 1, 2011 (April Fools' Day -- what a day to bring a patent infringement suit).

At the time, MMI accused Apple's MobileMe service of infringing the patent. In a later pleading, which was submitted after Apple's announcement of the iCloud ahead of this year's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), MMI told the court that it also considered the iCloud to infringe the related patent. According to MMI, MobileMe is "integrated" into the iCloud, and this also results in a name change. But Apple says that MMI's infringement accusations lack specificity and therefore refuses to defend itself against them. However, unlike in the United States, where a party could move for the dismissal of non-actionable claims, the German court isn't even interested in this. The presiding judge made it clear that if an injunction is ordered, it will relate to the infringement of a particular patent by whatever technology (by whichever name it may go), without specifying any products by name.

This means that a February ruling in MMI's favor would leave some important questions unanswered, and would give rise to subsequent disputes over the enforcement of an injunction against particular products and services.

The issue for Apple here is that it would probably (if not almost certainly) be accused of infringing the patent-in-suit with any products containing the iCloud client software. While the patent covers a synchronization technology that requires a server, and Apple Sales International does not operate the servers (maybe Apple Inc. does, or otherwise some Apple subsidiary other than the Irish distribution organization), all Apple devices containing the client software could be deemed to infringe the patent-in-suit contributorily.

In light of this risk, Apple's lawyers have asked the court to determine that MMI will have to give a 2 billion euro bail(US$ 2.7 billion based on today's exchange rate) if it seeks to enforce the patent. The purpose of such a bail is to ensure that an alleged infringer will be compensated if the enforced injunction is later overturned by an appellate court. The court was wondering whether that hefty amount truly reflects the economic damages Apple would suffer from enforcement, given that the iCloud is only one Apple offering and doesn't correspond to the entire value of its products. But Apple's lawyers insisted that an enforcement against its product sales in Germany could result in damages of that magnitude.

MMI's counsel was moderately receptive to the idea of setting different bails for the enforcement of the patent against processes/services and against actual products. I thought MMI's lead litigator believed to be in a strong position and wasn't in the mood to make any concessions.

The presiding judge indicated the possibility of a workaround. For example, the patent relates to highly automated synchronization techniques and might not be deemed infringed if Apple's client software sent certain messages to the iCloud server to trigger synchronization. But Apple's counsel didn't appear willing to downplay the economic relevance of this matter. I also think that the presence of senior in-house counsel from both parties -- sitting next to their German lawyers -- is indicative of the relevance of this action. Apple additionally flew in an outside attorney from California, Christine Saunders Haskett of the Covington & Burling firm.

If the iCloud cannot work around that patent without becoming much less useful (or next to useless in a hypothetical worst-case scenario), Apple will clearly limit its market potential in Germany by removing its client software. Again, it remains to be seen what a non-infringing workaround might look like. Maybe Apple doesn't concede that there are viable workarounds just in order to maximize the bail that Motorola would have to give if it enforces an injunction. But Apple's concerns over the economic implications of this could also be genuine.

On December 2, there will be another Motorola Mobility v. Apple hearing in Mannheim. It's unknown which legal entity or entities will have to defend themselves in that action. I guess the third action is against Apple GmbH (the German subsidiary) and Apple Retail Germany GmbH, which appears to operate the German Apple Stores.

Follow-up on the prohibition of in-court tweetingIn my report on the Samsung v. Apple hearing a week ago I mentioned that the presiding judge didn't allow live tweets from his courtroom. That mentioning resulted in a couple of articles in Germany. Today the presiding judge clarified that the reason why the use of Twitter is prohibited is that one must not use devices in the courtroom that could also be used to record the hearing. The only electronic devices allowed are counsel's portable computers and simultaneous translation equipment. As a result, one must not use smartphones, and therefore can't tweet.

Right after clarifying this at the very start of the session, the presiding judge interrupted the hearing for five minutes so those who (unlike me) hadn't done so previously could place their handsets in lockers.
The attack on the iCloud and the demand for a 2 billion euro bail would actually have been worth tweeting about.


If you'd like to be updated on the smartphone patent disputes and other intellectual property matters I cover, please subscribe to my RSS feed (in the right-hand column) and/or follow me on Twitter @FOSSpatents and Google+.

Debit Cards Are More Dangerous Than Ever Under New Laws

Despite Reforms, Visa and MasterCard Debit Cards Still Put Consumers at Risk, A CreditCardAssist.com Report Finds

You can lose everything in the blink of an eye

A consumer can lose everything in the blink of an eye and there’s no guarantee they’ll ever get it back.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) November 19, 2011

The recent Federal reforms to the banking industry fail to adequately protect Americans with debit cards, according to a report released today by CreditCardAssist.com, a leading credit card intelligence and resources firm. Citing the prevalence of mass debit card theft from corporations like CitiBank and Sony, the reportoutlines a systematic failure in debit cards, especially the ones issued by MasterCard and Visa.

“The entire debit card system is flawed,” said CreditCardAssist.com founder Bill Hazelton. "A consumer can lose everything in the blink of an eye and there’s no guarantee they’ll ever get it back." Studies have shown that a lapse in authentication security has made the information on debit cards easier to steal than any other piece of plastic in circulation. Because “check cards” and “unsecured” debit cards don’t use PIN numbers to validate transactions, they give thieves instant access to a consumer’s personal checking or savings account. As a result, victims could be left penniless for more than two weeks while their bank investigates the case.

"When someone steals your credit card, you can just refuse to pay your balance that month,” Hazelton explained. “But when your debit card is compromised, you’re losing the money you need to pay your mortgage, your medical bills and other necessary expenses -- this makes debit card fraud much more devastating than credit card fraud."

Debit card fraud is especially troubling when considering how easy it is for hackers to steal thousands of consumer debit card numbers at once from merchant and bank databases. This summer, financial giant Citibank had approximately 21 million card numbers stolen from its database when hackers realized they could simply alter their browser’s URL to expose different accounts -- and the personal information held within them. Just days later, Sony Online Entertainment exposed over 100 million user account details in a similar mass hack.
If they don’t report the false charges within two days, victims of debit card fraud are currently liable for up to $500 and if they take longer than two months, they receive no liability protection whatsoever. By contrast, victims of credit card fraud are only liable for $50, no matter the time period. “This regulatory disparity is absolutely putting consumers at risk,” Hazelton says, “consumers need to wake up and demand equal protections for debit cards -- or the problem won’t go away.”

Hazelton is well acquainted with advocating credit and debit card safety. He founded CreditCardAssist.com in order to advise consumers and small business owners on the perils and pitfalls of the credit card industry. Since its establishment in 2004 the company has grown into one of the leading credit card information resources on the Internet, and has been cited by publications like New York Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and Entrepreneur Magazine.
To learn more about Credit Card Assist or to schedule an interview, please email andrew(at)contentfac(dot)com. More information and the entire report can be viewed athttp://www.creditcardassist.com.