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Tech Entrepreneur Files Patent Infringement Complaint over "HEB Go"Digital Retail Apps (DRA), creator of the mobile self-checkout applications SelfPay® and SelfPay® Staff, filed a complaint yesterday for patent infringement, breach of contract, and unfair competition against HEB Grocery Company LP, in federal court, charging the grocery retailer with developing its own application (HEB Go) using unlicensed DRA technology. The complaint states that, after presenting itself as a potential customer and signing legal documents allowing it in-depth access to DRA's sample products, HEB then launched its own competing product using DRA's ideas and technology. According to the complaint:
MacKinnon filed for patent protection of the SelfPay technology in 2012 and 2013, resulting in U.S. Patent Nos. 8,720,771 and 9,934,506. SelfPay is advertised as saving shoppers time, allowing them to skip the checkout line by using their own mobile device to scan items, fill a shopping cart, and pay for the items in-app using a variety of supported payment methods, such as credit or debit cards, Apple Pay, PayPal (News - Alert), and others. "Our target customers are global chain retailers looking to offer their customers a truly mobile shopping and payment option, direct from the aisle of their physical store," said MacKinnon. DRA believes the use of SelfPay increases basket size by as much as 10 percent, by bringing the convenience of online shopping into the spontaneous and often impulse-based in-store environment. SelfPay integrates with retailers' payments and point of sale (POS) systems by interfacing between the shopper's mobile device and the retailer's back-end computer systems and processes. About Digital Retail Apps After a career as a retail and consumer technology strategy consultant to Fortune 100 companies, Wendy MacKinnon founded Digital Retail Apps (DRA) in 2012. DRA is a private company that creates and sells the mobile self-checkout applications SelfPay® and SelfPay® Staff. SelfPay gives shoppers a way to skip the checkout line and retailers a simple way to validate digital receipts on exit, assisting with loss prevention and providing a staff audit trail. SelfPay is not another mobile wallet; it's a better in-store shopper experience. SelfPay is a registered trademark of Digital Retail Apps., Inc.
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