We've all seen and heard those gift cards equiped with some flash memory that are triggered by opening the card, haven't we? At least I think it's flash based technology....

I never even thought of Hallmark as being a possible infringer until I saw this:

Gift Cards Don't Infringe Patent: Federal Circuit

Portfolio Media, New York (June 23, 2008)--An appeals court has affirmed a lower court ruling that gift cards issued by a group of companies including Best Buy Co. Inc., Starbucks Corp. and Costco Wholesale Corp. do not infringe a card reader technology patent owned by RealSource Inc.

In a decision issued Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said the district court had correctly interpreted the language of the patent at issue and that summary judgment of noninfringement in favor of the retailers was...

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