Government ID, Smart Cards, Identification and Authentication

FTC signs off on Digimarc, L-1 deal

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The Federal Trade Commission signed of on the sale of Digimarc’s driver license unit to L-1 Identity Solutions. This erases concerns that antitrust issues would hold up the deal, says Jeremy Grant, senior vice president and identity solutions analyst at the Stanford Group Company.

The ruling could have slipped till July, which would have delayed the deal, but not it will probably close by September 1, Grant says. An upcoming filing by Digimarc – expected in the next 1-2 weeks – will provide details of what the spin-off will look like, he adds. After the merger the new combined company will have about 90% of the U.S. driver license contracts. [end] 

The NEC Group has inked a five-year partnership deal with payment provider Barclaycard, according to Birmingham Post.

The partnership will see Barclaycard become the official payment partner of the NEC’s online ticketing operation, The Ticket Factory, and bring payment acceptance using contactless technology to the National Indoor Arena (NIA) in the center of Birmingham, UK.

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BWG Foods, an Irish wholesaler and retail grocery franchise operator, is expected to roll out contactless technology in the majority of its 900 stores after a recent deal announced with Visa, according to The Irish Times.

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Albron, an independent caterer in the Netherlands, will offer biometric- and contactless-based payments in its restaurants thanks to a newly signed agreement with pan-European payment processor Equens.

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PayByPhone has announced that the city of Ottawa is now offering an NFC payments option on parking meters.

According to PayByPhone, every Pay & Display machine in Ottawa has been outfitted with an NFC-enabled PayByPhone sticker, which users can tap with an NFC phone to set up and pay for parking time.

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Google closed the deal on acquiring Motorola Mobility, according to the company’s official blog.

In announcing the buy, Google CEO Larry Page hinted that Google will use Motorola to expand its Google Wallet mobile commerce service.

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The Ministry of Public Security in China announced the country will start to issue a new type of passport bearing an electronic chip containing the holder’s personal information, according to the China Daily.

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