Coding Technologies filed a suit against Qualtrics over their use of QR codes on March 1, 2020, claiming the system of transferring data is infringing on their copyright. In addition to Qualtrics, they sued CNH Industrial America and Eventbrite over the patent on the same day. Coding Technologies is represented by The Chong Law Firm.
Coding Technologies filed these complaints in US District Court for the District of Delaware over infringement of United States Patent No. 8,540,159 of which Coding Technologies is the owner. The patent is named “Method for Providing Mobile Service Using Code-pattern.” The plaintiff alleges that Qualtrics is infringing the patent by “using and/or incorporating code patterns in connection with promotional media distributed by and/or controlled by Defendant in a manner covered by one or more claims of the ‘159 Patent.”
The patent covers providing a mobile service by taking a picture of a code pattern “decoding the photographed code pattern image so as to obtain code information, extracting uniform resource locator (URL) information corresponding to the code information, transmitting a content information request message to a service provider server … and receiving content information corresponding to the URL information,” the abstract states.
They claim the way Qualtrics is using QR codes infringes upon technology protected in their patent. “Defendant’s actions complained of herein are causing irreparable harm and monetary damage to Plaintiff and will continue to do so unless and until Defendant is enjoined and restrained by this Court,” the complaint states.
Coding Technologies has used this same patent to sue for patent infringement multiple times in the past. On August 25, 2017, they filed sixteen cases including one against Mary Kay and another against American Airlines. Both of those cases were dismissed in December 2017. Since then, Coding Technologies has also sued Delta, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Home Depot, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Omni Hotels, and many others, primarily for a similar use of QR codes.