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IndustryUpdate

• Clothing chain Gap Inc. is testing a smartphone app that will allow customers to try on clothes without setting foot in a dressing room. Its DressingRoom app
relies on avatars to illustrate for customers how products will fit before customers buy them online. Google's Tango augmented-reality technology supports
Gap's app. Google Inc. also partnered with BMW Group to pilot the same technology for its BMW i Visualiser App, the latest innovation in the automobile
company's future retail program for promoting auto sales.
• Research has shown scent marketing can benefit businesses such as hotels, retailers, casinos and spas by improving customer satisfaction, sales revenue,
brand reputation and repeat visits. Scentpression, a boutique scent marketing firm specializing in scent branding for Caribbean-based hotels and retailers
since 2012, recently expanded operations to the U.S. market. In a typical installation, Scentpression's commercial scent diffusion equipment is designed to
disperse expertly crafted fragrance oils through clients' HVAC systems for seamless, even distribution. Client feedback has been favorable, Scentpression
noted.
• PTC's newest app enables retail brands to capture real-time trending imagery from popular social media platforms to assist with their concept development.
The web-based app delivers inspirations, ideas, requirements and feedback enterprise-wide to inform executives making product, material and
seasonal-direction decisions. "We are seeing a shift to digital tools and methods across the entire development cycle," said Quach Hai, PTC Senior Director
of Retail Product Management. "Digital design allows retailers to aggregate ideas and inspirations from across the enterprise and trends from social media
to create visually appealing and functional inspiration boards critical to the earliest stages of product design and development."

ANNOUNCEMENTS Mastercard, UniRush penalized for RushCard
failures, Green Dot to acquire UniRush
Ameranth patent cases proceed On Feb. 1, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau took action against Mastercard and UniRush
Ameranth Inc. obtained an order from the District Court LLC for October 2015 breakdowns that the bureau
for the Southern District of California lifting the stay of
more than 30 long-delayed patent infringement cases determined had left tens of thousands of economically
vulnerable RushCard users unable to access their own
associated with the company's '077 patent. The patent
covers multiple technologies for food and drink order- money to pay for basic necessities. The CFPB action
occurred one day after news broke that Green Dot Corp.
ing, reservations, ticketing and payment processing,
including mobile and web functionality as part of a syn- would acquire UniRush, the operating company for
RushCard.
chronized system. Ameranth can now enforce the patent
and seek damages and payment for unauthorized uses The CFPB ordered UniRush and Mastercard to pay an
of the company's data synchronization inventions.
estimated $10 million in restitution to customers who
Ayannah earns top honors at Fintech Finals 2017 were harmed by the breakdowns, which the bureau
concluded were preventable. It also fined the companies
Ayannah, a provider of digital financial services, was $3 million. As of press time, Green Dot's acquisition of
named Best in Show by judges at the Fintech Finals 2017 UniRush for $147 million, plus a minimum $4 million
competition. Twenty-three startups had six minutes on annual earn-out payment for five years post closing, was
stage in front of judges and a live audience of fintech expected to close before the end of the first quarter of
professionals and media. Ayannah received a $10,000 2017, subject to customary closing conditions.
prize and was invited to Visa Inc.'s Innovation Center in
Singapore for a co-creation engagement with a team of
subject-matter experts from across Visa's business.

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