Credit cards have been around in their present form since the 1960s. And magstripe credit cards have been around since the 1970s. So patents on the basic tech

Credit cards have been around in their present form since the 1960s. And magstripe credit cards have been around since the 1970s. So patents on the basic technology have long since expired. (Of course, there are all sorts of ancillaries that were developed later -- CVV2 numbers, AVS, fraud-detection, etc.) The article talks about replacing 16-digit card numbers with a new payment infrastructure. The Orbiscom technology produces virtual card numbers that are backwards-compatible with existing 16-digit credit card numbers.