|
Thursday, December 14, 2006
(Mitek Systems, Inc.)
|
|
SAN DIEGO, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Mitek Systems, Inc., a leading provider of check image analytics and intelligent character recognition software, today announced that the company has been allowed its first patent for the invention of a 'System and Method for Check Fraud Detection Using Signature Validation', further reinforcing the company's innovative leadership in image-based forgery detection.
The company received official notice from the US Patent and Trademark Office on November 16, 2006 that application number 11/009,252, an application filed initially on December 10, 2004, had been allowed. Mitek scientists created a system and method of image-based fraud detection which validates the authenticity of a signature on a financial document such as a personal check without the need for a connection to a signature archive database. The invention features signature encoding software for creating a unique fingerprint and converting the fingerprint into a two-dimensional barcode that is printed onto a series of checks. The invention also provides a method of validating the authenticity of a signature on a check by comparing the actual signature against the fingerprint, thus rendering the check self-authenticating.
The company believes this invention will be particularly useful as the banking industry's Check21 image-based check clearing trends accelerate. A unique characteristic of the invention is that it enables signature verification at various points of check presentment, for example at bank teller stations or at retail store registers. The signature authentication technology protected by this patent is currently embedded in the check fraud solution available from the John H. Harland Company marketed under the brand Validify. This same technology is also embedded in a system to prevent illegal drug sample diversion, marketed by Stay In Front, Inc to pharmaceutical companies.
"The patent is part of an ongoing effort to protect Mitek's intellectual property," said James DeBello President & CEO of Mitek Systems, Inc. "It is a tribute to the innovative spirit and determination of our scientific teams, and the first of a number of applications filed in this domain."