Prepaid Debit Card Patent Developments Over the Past Decade

February 3, 2010 | Advocates

Research results published at the GetDebit website (www.getdebit.com) indicate that patent applications published regarding prepaid debit cards have increased tremendously from 2001 to 2009. It does however, seem that there are still only a few major players regarding prepaid debit card patent applications including the likes of MasterCard, Visa, and American Express. The research published at the site also suggests that the successful issuing of patent applications regarding the debit cards still go mainly to the bigger companies with only a few awarded to smaller players in the field. American Express and First Datacorp lead the market in the USA for patent applications being granted to them. New innovations in the USA and smaller countries such as South Africa, may change the picture during the next couple of years.