Business Method patents are the third member of the software/e-commerce/business method trio. In general, a business method patent is a method of doing business which does not necessarily require the use of a the Internet, nor even a computer. The prototypical business method patent involved pooling of mutual funds for tax advantage, we've included a patent here by one of the parties to the ensuing and famous lawsuit. Business methods can cover a quite broad range of differing activities: from business models tofinancial arrangements to record-keeping methods to office procedures and more.
Business method inventions can be very furtive. It seems likely that thousands of times a year, creative business-people come up with new businesses or just new procedures in an old business. While they probably understand that they have had an original idea, the concept of business methods as inventions is alien to most people: after all, "inventions" are usually thought of as being machinery. This is grounded in historical patent law: until quite recently, business methods were not considered to be patentable subject matter.
We've included as examples abstracts and related information
taken from patents previously granted. Some of these patents were close to history, some are unknown,
a few were chosen whimsically. Note that these are not chosen for being patents
done by Barber Legal, we're not advertising here, nor promising that "we can get you a patent like this",
nor are we trying to take credit for the work of other registered patent attorneys: we've even included the names of
other firms in our excerpts and we always urge potential clients to call around to compare our prices and those
of other firms. What we are doing is giving you an idea of the sorts of things that have been done
in the past by inventors and patent attorneys around the world.
The examples on this page are businees method patents.
Reading these excerpts and comparing them to the ones we show as examples of
business method patents and e-commerce patents, will show discerning readers that
software patents, business method patents, and e-commerce patents have quite a bit
in common.
Abstract:
A system and method for using a mailing label to be applied to magazines,
newspapers, circulars or other mass mailing items, which has a subscriber's name and address,
which label bears a corporate logo or other advertising, marketing or promotional information
for a product. The label can be removed from the mailed item and applied to a coupon for
retail redemption or to a return mailer, so that the subscriber information can be
extracted from the coupon or return mailer, and used to generate a database of computer
records forming a mailing list of desirable, motivated customers for the product promoted
on the label.
Inventors: McEvoy; Richard B. (Newtown, CT); von Braun; Peter (Greenwich, CT)
Assignee: LabelADD LLC (Greenwich, CT)
Appl. No.: 253283
Filed: February 19, 1999
Primary Examiner: Gravini; Stephen
Attorney, Agent or Firm: St. Onge Steward Johnston & Reens LLC
Abstract:
A security system and method by which customers may be readily identified prior to
cashing of checks, other cash-out transactions, or other business transactions,
wherein each customer is issued an individualized customer identification card having at
least a personalized multidigit customer identification number encoded thereon and,
optionally, also encoded with additional personal data identifying the customer.
To cash a check or conduct another form of business transaction, whether at an attended
customer service station or at an automated machine, the encoded data on the
identification card is read and the customer is required to input the personalized
identification number assigned to the card. The transaction is not approved unless
the customer correctly inputs the assigned identification number. In contemplated
embodiments, the encoded data along with data regarding the transaction requested by
the customer, e.g., obtained by optical scanning of a check or other item presented by
the customer, is transmitted to a central computer system for execution of an
approval-disapproval analysis or algorithm.
Inventors: Morrison, Jr.; William T. (Jacksonville, FL)
Assignee: First Union Corporation (Charlotte, NC)
Appl. No.: 044503
Filed: March 19, 1998
Primary Examiner: Cosimano; Edward R.
Assistant Examiner: McCarty; William R.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman LLP
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