Fair Isaac loses antitrust lawsuit

A Minneapolis jury on Friday ruled against Fair Isaac and in favor of credit bureau Experian in an antitrust lawsuit filed by Fair Isaac against Experian.  Fair Isaac claimed that it had exclusive trademark rights to credit scores utilizing any score range that overlapped 300 to 850.  Fair Isaac claimed that Experian's VantageScore credit score violated its alleged trademark rights.  Unfortunately for Fair Isaac, the Minneapolis jury disagreed.

"Today's verdict is a victory for Experian and for American consumers," said Kerry Williams, group president of credit services and decision analytics at Experian. "By preventing FICO from further stifling competition in the marketplace, the jury's decision will increase consumer choice in credit scoring."

The jury also found that Fair Isaac committed fraud on the Patent and Trademark Office in obtaining its trademark registration.

VantageScore is the credit reporting industry's first credit score developed jointly by the three national credit reporting companies to deliver consistent, objective credit scores across their respective databases. VantageScore provides consumers and businesses with a highly predictive, consistent score that is easy to understand and apply. VantageScore utilizes a range from 501 to 990 that naturally aligns with well-known A, B, C, D and F grade intervals, and is used by four of the top five U.S. financial institutions and eight of the top 10 credit card issuers.