Pillsbury Helps Kroger Get Membership Rewards Patent Suit Dismissed

A Texas federal court threw out a patent claim against The Kroger Company’s computerized membership rewards program this week. California-based NexusCard sued Kroger and several other grocery and drugstore chains over their rewards programs, alleging they infringed on NexusCard’s membership discount methodology. U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap this week granted Kroger’s motion to dismiss the suit, determining the patent claim describes only an abstract idea and does not present a unique or inventive quality that passes the Alice test.