Orbiscom has entered a long-term patent cross-licensing agreement with Microsoft aimed at establishing controlled payment number technology as a desktop standard for securing credit card payments across the Internet.
This 15-year agreement provides a gateway for banks that offer controlled payment number technology to communicate with cardholders via the Microsoft .Net platform.
Orbiscom's software is designed to offer protection to cardholders shopping over the Internet by enabling the creation of unique transactions numbers for authorising payments. The system operates within the existing credit and debit card infrastructure, and is currently being trialled by MBNA, Discover, and Allied Irish Banks.
The patent cross-licensing agreement enables both Orbiscom and Microsoft to deliver payment solutions to bankcard issuers and their cardholders. Microsoft has licensed from Orbiscom its patents in the area of online payments for use in Microsoft's products and services while Orbiscom has licensed from Microsoft its patents in the area of proxy numbers to include in Orbiscom's global patent portfolio.
Orbiscom says it will continue to license CPN technology directly to bankcard issuers and processors. In addition, the company says it will work with Microsoft over the next several months to deliver new services based on the .NET platform.