Defendant
1 case as defendant.
I'll research this company before writing the profile.
Let me gather more details on the company and its ownership history.
Let me verify the corporate history and current ownership.
Fuel Marketing Solutions, Inc. (FMS) was a Dallas, Texas–based operator of grocery-fuel loyalty programs. It was headquartered at 14241 Dallas Parkway, Suite 400, Dallas, and was founded around 1998 by Peter Jacoves. PitchBook lists it as a small, private, formerly private-equity–backed company (investors included AutoGas Systems and Private Equity Partners of Texas) with roughly 11 employees. In 2003 the parent company was renamed Centego Marketing, Inc.; Centego was later acquired by Excentus Corp. from AutoGas Systems on September 4, 2008, and ultimately became part of Professional Datasolutions, Inc. (PDI).
Products / services. FMS operated the "Fuel Rewards" program, a cross-promotion loyalty system linking supermarket purchases to gasoline discounts. Shoppers who bought designated products at participating grocers (including H-E-B, Winn-Dixie, Meijer, and Albertson's) received point-of-sale fuel vouchers redeemable at partner gas stations, supported by FMS's proprietary redemption technology and in-store promotion materials (shelf-talkers, signage). FMS also supplied program-performance data to participating grocers, fuel providers, and product manufacturers. Reported figures included roughly 500 products rotating across about 650 stores, with consumers earning over $16 million in fuel savings in 2002.
Patent-litigation posture. FMS appears in the tracked data solely as a defendant (0 plaintiff cases, 2 defendant cases) — the classic profile of an operating company being sued, not an NPE. Both tracked matters are Catalina Marketing Corp. v. Fuel Marketing Solutions, Inc., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. This was an operating-company-versus-operating-company dispute, not a patent-assertion-entity suit; Catalina is a loyalty-marketing firm.
Notable cases / context. Catalina alleged that FMS's fuel-purchase rewards system infringed three Catalina patents covering point-of-purchase coupon printing and coupon generation tied to consumer purchase patterns, and also raised unfair-competition claims. The parties settled: Catalina granted FMS a license to continue its rewards programs, while FMS acknowledged the validity of Catalina's patents and that it had infringed them. Catalina estimated damages exceeding $75,000 in lost sales at the time of filing. (Specific filing dates and docket numbers were not verified.)
Catalina Marketing sued Fuel Marketing Solutions; the case settled with a license and FMS acknowledged validity of Catalina's patents. The three asserted patents were described by subject matter but not named; the narrative states US 4,910,672 is the strongest circumstantial link but unverified.