Nexiden Inc. sued Ping Identity Corp. in Texas federal court, alleging that Ping’s PingID mobile app infringes two patents covering how a mobile device registers itself and authenticates its user during a secure session.
The patents at issue are US 9,521,548, “Secure registration of a mobile device for use with a session,” issued in 2016, and US 10,592,872, a 2020 continuation covering secure registration and authentication of a user via a mobile device. The approach they describe stores a private key on the device to encrypt and sign messages, paired with on-device authentication, such as a biometric, to confirm the authorized user actually controls that device.
Nexiden, a small Dallas-based company that grew out of the Tech Wildcatters startup accelerator, says it contacted Ping in March 2023 and again in September 2024 to try to negotiate a license. Those talks did not succeed, and Nexiden alleges Ping has been “intentionally continuing their knowing infringement” ever since. The complaint seeks an injunction barring further use of the patented technology along with damages for past and ongoing infringement.
PingID is the multi-factor authentication app in Ping Identity’s enterprise platform, verifying a user’s identity via push notification, one-time code, or biometric check on their phone before granting access to corporate systems. That basic pattern, a private key bound to a device and unlocked by an on-device authentication step, is now common across the mobile authentication industry, more than a decade after the older of the two patents was filed.
The Nexiden case is not Ping’s first patent fight over its identity products. Fraud Free Transactions LLC sued both Ping and Okta in Delaware federal court last year, alleging Ping’s PingOne platform and Okta’s identity products infringe a separate patent covering fraud prevention in secured transactions. Ping has also been expanding its biometric authentication lineup through acquisition rather than internal development. It finalized its purchase of Keyless to add privacy-preserving biometric authentication to its enterprise identity platform, and separately partnered with OLOID on passwordless biometric login for clinical workforces such as hospital staff who need fast, hands-free access between shifts.
Sources: Bloomberg Law
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
