A frustrated tyre-kicker in last year's sale of Keycorp's smart card business is skirmishing with the company in the Federal Court in a bid to work up an action for misleading conduct. HID, a US-based manufacturer of secure identity solutions and contactless smartcard technology (and a subsidiary of ASSA ABLOY of Sweden) lodged an indicative offer of $31 million for the smart card business. Keycorp opted to accept a lower offer from Gemalto (having been in advanced negotiations) and opted to proceed with that option by selling the smart card division to an experienced operator. In the Federal Court on Friday, HID succeeded in obliging Keycorp to provide additional documents under discovery in order to continue an action under the Trades Practice Act. HID contends that Keycorp management misled it as to the state of negotiations with the alternative and ultimately successful bidder.