The program rewards customers with a 10-cent per gallon discount at its fuel stations for every $100 spent in the supermarket. According to Safeway retail brand Tom Thumb's website, the program was to continue [image-nocss] though January 2, said a report by The Dallas Morning News.
"We are glad that Safeway has decided to discontinue the PowerPump rewards program and its infringement of our patents without further legal action on this matter," said Dickson Perry, president and CEO of Excentus. "We look forward to resolving any issues we have with Safeway regarding the past and exploring ways that we may work with them and others regarding our patents and fuelperks! program in the future."
Excentus is the provider of the fuelperks! rewards program, a retail marketing coalition in the United States using fuel as the consumer reward. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Excentus Corp. was founded in 1996.It is a privately held company with more than 110 customers in the United States and Canada.
Teena Massingill, director of corporate public affairs for the Pleasanton, Calif.-based retailer, told CSP Daily News, "Our decision about the PowerPump program has nothing to do with the lawsuit. We launched PowerPump a year ago when gas prices peaked. The promotion will expire on September 12, and we are communicating this to customers now. We will continue to offer competitive fuel prices. However, customers are asking us to provide greater overall value inside the store and we are responding accordingly."
In a lawsuit filed in June, Excentus had accused Safeway of infringing its patents and stealing trade secrets to create its own gasoline rewards program, said the Morning News.
Excentus said that after Safeway offered to buy it and Abilene, Texas-based Auto-Gas Systems Inc. in 2006 and 2007, both companies opened their operations and patents to extensive review by Safeway. (Excentus owns Auto-Gas' patents, and Auto-Gas is a major shareholder of Excentus.) Safeway dropped the offers and then launched its own program six months later, the lawsuit said.
Privately held Excentus, which operates "fuelperks!" programs for supermarket chains, had said it was seeking injunctive and equitable relief along with unspecified damages, the report said.
Dickson Perry, president and CEO of Excentus, told the paper that he wants to resolve issues and explore "ways that we may work with them and others regarding our patents and fuelperks! program in the future."
Excentus spokesperson Scott Wetzel added that the company is not dropping the lawsuit.
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