On Tuesday, plaintiff eCeipt LLC filed a patent infringement complaint against Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. (BB&B) in the Western District of Texas. eCeipt contends that BB&B has infringed on one of its patents by copying “methods for processing receipts that obtain transaction data from a point-of-sale.”
eCeipt, a Texas company, is the assignee of the patent entitled “Receipt Handling Systems, Print Drivers and Methods Thereof.” The patent, issued in 2014, sought to address the need for “improved systems that (avoid) the waste associated with unwanted receipts, that emails a receipt to a customer, that allows a customer to obtain a printed receipt at the store location and that enables marketing capabilities associated with emailed receipts and any associated analytics.”
The complaint explains that during a retail transaction, the patented method facilitates seamless communication of image and transaction data between the point-of-sale system, the customer’s email, and a local server. According to eCeipt’s filing, the patented method provides multiple technological advantages over previously existing art. In particular, it “improve[s] the existing technological process by allowing the automation of further tasks, such as assigning an email template based on the data file transmitted to the server and sending an e-mail to the correct customer e-mail address.”
Accompanied by illustrative photographs, the complaint describes how BB&B’s sales receipt processing “performs each step” of eCeipt’s patented method. Specifically, BB&B obtains transaction and image data from a store location’s point-of-sale system, obtains the customer’s email address from an information database, populates the screen offering the customer a choice to receive a printed or an e-mailed receipt, and if the latter is selected, transmits the image and transaction data to a server in communication with the point-of-sale system, generates a data file, assigns an email template, and sends an e-mail to the correct customer email address.
For the supposed infringement, eCeipt seeks an adjudication that BB&B has infringed on its patent, a damages award, and its litigation costs and fees.
The plaintiff is represented by The Mort Law Firm, PLLC.