Kristina Roberts
A new legal fight has started between Apple and a Texas-based company called Fintiv. The company says that Apple took its technology without permission and used it to create Apple Pay, the popular mobile wallet used by millions of people around the world. The lawsuit claims that this was not just a misunderstanding or a business disagreement, but a case of deliberate theft that allowed Apple to make billions of dollars while ignoring the rights of the original creators.
The complaint was made public on Thursday and gives a detailed story about how this situation allegedly happened. According to Fintiv, the technology behind some of the most important features in Apple Pay was first developed by a company called CorFire. Fintiv bought CorFire in 2014. CorFire’s work focused on mobile payment systems, which were becoming more popular as people started using their phones for contactless payments. Apple Pay now works on hundreds of millions of iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and even MacBooks.
Apple has not yet made any public comment about these claims.
Fintiv says the connection between the two companies goes back more than a decade. In 2011 and 2012, Apple had several meetings with CorFire. During these meetings, the two companies also signed nondisclosure agreements, which are legal promises to keep certain information private. Fintiv claims that the purpose of these meetings was to explore the possibility of Apple officially licensing CorFire’s mobile wallet technology. At the time, the market for contactless payments was growing quickly, and both companies seemed to be interested in finding a way to work together.
However, according to Fintiv, the story took a very different turn. Instead of making a deal, Apple allegedly used the knowledge it gained from those meetings to build its own version of the technology. The lawsuit also claims that Apple hired away several CorFire employees, who had inside knowledge of the system. Fintiv says these employees played a role in helping Apple launch Apple Pay in 2014 in the United States and later in dozens of other countries.
The complaint does not stop there. It also says that Apple has been running what Fintiv calls an “informal racketeering enterprise.” This refers to an organized effort to make money through unfair or dishonest means. In this case, Fintiv accuses Apple of using Apple Pay to collect transaction fees from major credit card companies and payment networks. The lawsuit names some of the biggest financial institutions in the United States, including Bank of America, Capital One, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, as well as payment giants like American Express, Mastercard, and Visa.
According to Fintiv, all of these companies benefit from Apple Pay, while Fintiv — the company that claims to have created the original technology — has not received any payment at all. In their complaint, Fintiv calls this “a case of corporate theft and racketeering of monumental proportions,” saying it has allowed Apple, based in Cupertino, California, to “generate billions of dollars of revenue without paying Fintiv a single penny.”
Marc Kasowitz, a lawyer for Fintiv, used strong words to describe the situation. “One of the most egregious examples of corporate malfeasance” is how he referred to Apple’s actions. He said this was the worst he had seen in his 45 years of practicing law.
The lawsuit has been filed in federal court in Atlanta. Fintiv is seeking both compensatory damages (money to make up for the losses they claim to have suffered) and punitive damages (additional money meant to punish wrongdoing). The claims are based on federal and Georgia state laws that deal with the theft of trade secrets and racketeering, including the RICO law, which is often used to target organized crime.
Apple is the only company being sued in this case. CorFire, the company whose technology is at the center of the dispute, was originally based in Alpharetta, Georgia, which is a suburb of Atlanta.
This is not the first time Fintiv has taken legal action against Apple. The two companies have been involved in another court case over patent infringement. In that case, Fintiv claimed that Apple had violated its patents — which are legal rights over specific inventions — by using their technology without permission. But on August 4, a federal judge in Austin, Texas, dismissed that lawsuit. Just a few days before the dismissal, the court had already thrown out some of Fintiv’s claims.
Even though that earlier case did not go in Fintiv’s favor, this new lawsuit is a separate matter focusing on trade secrets and racketeering rather than patents. The outcome of this case will depend on whether the court finds enough evidence to prove that Apple used confidential information from CorFire in creating Apple Pay.
This legal battle is not just about money. It raises bigger questions about how large technology companies work with smaller businesses and how ideas are shared — or taken — during business talks. If Fintiv’s claims are true, it would mean that Apple took advantage of a smaller company’s work after showing interest in it, rather than paying for the rights to use it. On the other hand, if Apple can prove that Apple Pay was developed independently, it could clear them of the accusations.
The case could also have an impact on how future business negotiations happen in the technology world. Smaller companies may become more cautious when sharing their ideas with bigger firms, even when legal agreements like nondisclosure agreements are in place. While these agreements are meant to protect private information, this lawsuit suggests that some companies believe they are still at risk.
Fintiv’s decision to bring the lawsuit in Atlanta may also be strategic. Since CorFire was based in Georgia, that state’s laws on trade secrets and racketeering could play a role in the outcome. The inclusion of the RICO law is also significant, as it is not commonly used in cases involving technology companies. If the court agrees with Fintiv’s claims, the penalties for Apple could be much larger than in a standard trade secret case.
For now, the world will have to wait for Apple’s official response. The company has stayed silent so far, giving no statement to the press about Fintiv’s accusations. Given Apple’s influence in the tech industry and the popularity of Apple Pay, whatever happens next will likely attract a lot of attention. The case touches on the trust between companies, the value of innovation, and the importance of protecting the work of smaller players in a market dominated by giants.
Whether this lawsuit will result in a major payout for Fintiv, a settlement, or a dismissal, it has already sparked conversations about fairness and ethics in technology. In the fast-moving world of digital payments, where billions of dollars are at stake, the line between inspiration and imitation can be thin — and in court, proving where that line was crossed will be the real challenge.
