A Patent was granted for Domain name acquisition and management system and method, patent No. 7,418,471, invented by Raymond King, of Portland, Ore.; Ron Wiener, of Portland, Ore.; and Len Albert Bayles, of Salt Lake City; assigned to SnapNames.com Inc., of Portland, Ore.
The actual abstract of the patent is quoted to say
“”””A preferred embodiment of the present invention can accept an indication of a domain name or set of domain names from interested entity. The desired domain names are names that an interested entity desires to register through a domain name registration system or systems, such as that operated by a registry-accredited registrar. The system can closely monitor the domain name registry or registrar databases used to provide domain name resolution or registration over a distributed network, such as the Internet, and determine the expiration or availability of the name or names supplied by the interested entity. When a desired domain name appears to be available, the system can register or re-register the domain name through a domain registration service. If there is more than one interested entity for a domain name, the system can also facilitate an auction for the domain name.”””
Now that this patent has been granted can SnapNames go after all other drop auction houses like NameJet and Pool and claim patent infringement?
What was the purpose of going after the patent?
Interesting development
what a ridiculous patent — are they seriously giving out patents like these?
Maybe I can get a patent for the method of walking down a hill backwards when my calf muscles are sore.
Or a patent for the method of cruising the neighborhoods for furniture that people leave out on the curb when they upgrade their interiors.
I hope SN gets sued.
David
Sued for what?
They applied for the patent, actually looks like the former owner of snap applied for it and its was granted.
They can now enforce their rights if they want
well, i guess i was not too careful in writing…
I just cant believe that a patent can be granted for something like that — to me it seems like granting a patent for picking up a penny you see on the ground, not too original or special or anything — of course now that they have it I would be surprised if they didn’t start going after their competitors.
i guess what i meant to say was that i hope their competitors will challenge this patent
David
I think they had a chance to challenge the patent in that process and either did not or their challenge was rejected.
I dunno the details, but even so I can’t imagine that all or most of their competitors would’ve had the time or resources to challenge it — maybe they thought it might be such a ridiculous patent to grant that it would never be granted — in any case, i think they can still challenge it. i’m no lawyer but i think so based on reports like this: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1178096682581
David, Michael is a lawyer…..
Since the “process” is very competitive I can see why Snapnames went for the patient. I do not think they would spend the patient money for “nothing”. It will be interesting to see what they do with this patient.
Thanks for the heads up Michael.
lol… i guess that puts me in my place.
Patent law is a very big specialty and an area of law in which I did not practice.
This is what I can tell you.
Its a costly process.
Its a time consuming process. The fact that the old owners filed for it and it just got granted will tell you it took a while.
Like a trademark application there is a period in the process where company or individuals can object to dispute the patent.
There are companies whose only business is to get patents granted then sue those that they deem infringe on the patent. Some of these companies own tens of thousands of patents and make substantial income from licensing its patents and in damages through lawsuits
how bout changing that name to MHB.JD?
even better, how bout MHB.JD.PRO?
David
I think i’ll pass on the .pro even at $25.
waiting for .lawyer or .attorney or when the new extensions come out
It’d be easier for domainers if Snapnames could force all expired domain auctions to go through them with this patent. Looking through one auction house is better than FIVE (Pool, Snapnames, Namejet, Tucows/Afternic, TDNAM).
Just wishful thinking on my part…
Tony
I don’t know about that.
I don’t think it would effect those registrar that drop domains to certain services by contract.
However, they might be able to get all the normal drop domains or sue for licensing fees for their patent
This patent is bunk. Go ask the people that Amazon has sued for the totally original idea of a “1 click checkout” just how likely it is these guys will act like good corporate citizens in their stewardship of a baseless patent. You’re right David, this patent is as absurd as you think it is. It only highlights the woefully inadequate job the USPTO has been doing to protect the public from unfair patents which is as much their job (actually more) as it is to protect the intellectual property of actual inventors.
What a patent – thinks that make you go W.T.F.
“A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an invention.” Wikipedia
What exactly is the invention here? Some software that pings registrars and checks if a certain domain is available at a specific time preset for deletion by ICANN and the registrar? Maybe it’s on the uniqueness of the software? You can pick any platform or any computer language and build the same application.
I can tell you it’s not much of a patent if i just figured it out and owned similar software long ago.
I agree with David. I think the staff at USPTO is as tech savvy as my grandma and that’s why they gave them the patent. It should be worthless.
2 words on this – PRIOR ART
Dotser has it, so do I.
unenforceable.
so what about the silly unenforceable patent… but Snapnames on the other hand is so stupid I’ll be able to easily avoid them like the plague for being so morally and mentally bankrupt.