Friday, May 30, 2008

Patent Watch

All method, no madness in these business patents

By Kirk Teska

Business method patents remain controversial, and now the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has agreed to hear a case involving a patent application covering a method of managing the costs of commodities such as natural gas in the face of rising and falling demand due to the weather. The outcome of the case could affect the ability to patent certain business methods. Meanwhile, let’s take a look at a few recently issued patents and recently published patent applications for a variety of business methods naming New England inventors.

• Patrick Grotto of Sharon, Conn., is inventor of patent application No. 2008/0097931 (April 24) owned by Ipie Mae Corp. for a process of providing liquidity to a business using intellectual property assets. The process involves aggregating intellectual property asset-backed securities, tranching the securities into classes and selling the securities based on the tranches.

• Patent No. 7,370,073 (May 6) is about a cable television set-top box which monitors your TV viewing habits so that promotions can be provided based on your “viewership profile.” Felix Yen of Sudbury, Kirk Cameron of Whitinsville and Mark Fagnani of Watertown are the inventors in this patent for Navic Systems Inc. of Needham.

• Patent No. 7,370,000 (May 6) covers a method of providing additional life insurance, which is easily obtainable and affordable to an insured in order for the insured to increase the total benefit of insurance. Lawrence Sherman of Westport, Conn., is the sole inventor; the assignee is Value-Security LLC, also located in Westport.

• For Walker Digital LLC, of Stamford, Conn., patent No. 7,343,319 (March 11) is for a method of automatically charging consumers a discounted price for products at the checkout stand if the total purchase price at the retail price is above the preset value. The Connecticut inventors are Jay Walker of Ridgefield, Andrew Van Luchene of Norwalk, Magdalena Mik of Greenwich and Daniel Tesdesco of Canaan.

• The Ticket Reserve Inc. of Chicago, won a patent for a method of purchasing an option for a ticket to a playoff or championship game such as the Super Bowl. The option is exercised only if your favorite team ends up playing in the game. Matthew Vincent of Georgetown, Charles Cella of Pembroke, and Edward Kelly of Wellesley are the inventors.

• If you travel a lot, the invention of IBM Corp. patent No. 7,349,853 (March 25) might be of assistance. You are issued an identifier and you associate your identifier, on a computer network, with your locations for the next several weeks or months. People who send you letters (“hard-copy mail”) just put your identifier on the envelope. The postal machine reads the identifier and determines via the network your current mailing address so you can receive letters while on business or personal travel trips. Clark Hill of Newport, R.I., is the sole inventor. Sticking with IBM, patent No. 7,337,149 (Feb. 26) covers a method for predicting semiconductor product costs at a fabricator. The Vermont inventors are Cathy Blouin of Franklin, Carolyn Camisa of Essex Junction and Stephanie Miraglia of Burlington.

• IBM is not alone as a traditional company seeking out business method patents. General Electric Co. won patent No. 7,343,352 on March 11 for a computer system that analyzes and assesses a part-inspection process. Lowell Bauer of Walpole, N.H., is listed as an inventor.

• Patent No. 7,337,137 (Feb. 26) describes an “optimization engine” for managing a stock portfolio. Leonid Zosin of Waltham is the inventor in this patent for ITG Inc. of New York City.

• Patent No. 7,324,968 (January 29) is for a shipping calculator for an online open-bidding auction that provides an advanced, rapid and accurate estimation of shipping costs between a seller and the winner of an online auction. Greg Rotman of Canton, Richard Rotman of Westborough and John Martin of Cherry Valley are the inventors in this Worcester-based Paid Inc. patent.
 

Kirk Teska is an adjunct law professor at Suffolk University Law School and is the managing partner of Iandiorio, Teska & Coleman, an intellectual property law firm in Waltham. His book “Patent Savvy for Managers” is available online and in most major bookstores. He can be reached at kirk@iandiorio.com.