SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - Jun 28, 2012) - ImageWare Systems, Inc. (OTCQB: [ IWSY ]) (PINKSHEETS: [ IWSY ]), a leader in multimodal biometric security solutions, has acquired from a private company four U.S. patents related to wireless technology. These patents, combined with ImageWare Systems' existing foundational patents in the areas of biometric identification, verification, enrollment and fusion, provide a unique and protected foundation on which to build interactive mobile applications that are secured using biometrics.

Securing these patents is expected to accelerate and strengthen ImageWare's entry into the mobile transaction marketplace for industries like healthcare, law enforcement, banking, and retail -- or for any organization requiring highly-reliable and flexible identity verification of their mobile users.

The patents cover a method for exchanging content-rich interactive messages via wireless devices, where a sender selects a template for negotiating an event-based interactive workflow and collaborates with one or more recipients. The event-based interactive workflow may involve response triggered events and non-response triggered events. Information is pushed in real-time to the recipient or recipients using any enabling push technology. The message notifies the recipient to take a particular action.

ImageWare's payment for the four patents involved a cashless transaction combined with potential future cash royalty payments. The cashless portion involved the issuance of 150,000 warrants to purchase ImageWare common stock, exercisable at $0.80 per share. Under the terms of the purchase agreement, the warrants cannot be exercised until or unless ImageWare realizes a minimum of $500,000 in revenue from the patents. The warrants have a term of three years. The royalty payment to the seller would equal 7.5% of any revenue ImageWare derives from the sale or license of products involving the patents, with the payment of such contingent royalties capped at $10 million.

"The addition of these patents to our IP portfolio significantly strengthens our market position as we continue our entrance into the mobile marketplace," said Jim Miller, ImageWare Systems chairman and CEO. "Combining the technology underlying these patents with ImageWare's biometric solutions provides the missing security link facing a growing number of enterprises and government agencies using mobile platforms to transact business or interact with their users."

"We believe securing these patents also provides yet another substantial competitive barrier to entry, as we work to roll out related mobile security enhancements to our products before the end of the year," added Miller.

Including these newly acquired patents, ImageWare Systems now holds nine patents with eight patent applications pending.

About ImageWare Systems, Inc.
ImageWare Systems, Inc. (OTCQB: [ IWSY ]) is a leading developer of identity management solutions, providing biometric, secure credential and law enforcement technologies. Scalable for worldwide deployment, ImageWare's biometric product line includes a multi-biometric engine that is hardware and algorithm independent, enabling the enrollment and management of unlimited population sizes. ImageWare's identification products are used to manage and issue secure credentials, including national IDs, passports, driver's licenses, smart cards and access control credentials. ImageWare's digital booking products provide law enforcement with integrated mug shot, fingerprint livescan and investigative capabilities. ImageWare is headquartered in San Diego, CA, with offices in Portland, OR, Washington, D.C., and Ottawa, Ontario. For more information on ImageWare Systems, Inc., visit [ www.iwsinc.com ].

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