For some time, Vendor TQP (Telequip Corporation) has been filing lawsuits against various US banks over its patent for changing keys during encrypted data transmissions. Now the list of defendants also includes Apple and eBay.



The claim is about the alleged violation of a patent which was applied for in 1992 and granted in 1995. It describes a method in which symmetric keys for a sender and a recipient are created using synchronised pseudo-random number generators and may be changed during transmission.

It would seem that TQP's claims aren't completely without merit – after all, the vendor has already achieved out-of-court settlements with American Express, MasterCard and Amazon. TQP filed earlier lawsuits against financial institutions including Merrill Lynch, the Bank of America and Capital One. The new lawsuit against Apple and eBay also accuses Ticketmaster, Fandango, Live Nation, UPS, CVS, DHL, MetLife, Broadcast Music, Half.com, MicroPlace, Viva Group, ProStores, PayPal and BillMeLater of violating the patent by using certain secure data transmission technologies between customers and servers.