Yahoo!, Amazon, E-Commerce Patent Auctioned
Chicago, Illinois - (Cheap Web Hosting Directory) - April 3, 2007 - A fundamental business method patent related to Internet shopping and electronic commerce, forward-cited more than 80 times by 38 companies’ patents, including Amazon.com, Microsoft and Yahoo!, will be offered for sale.
U.S. Patent Number 5,895,454 (”the ‘454 Patent”), entitled “Integrated Interface for Vendor/Product Oriented Websites,” will be offered at Ocean Tomo’s first private auction, on Thursday, May 10, 2007, at its global headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. The patent discloses a method of allowing users to interact with vendors and their product or service offerings by querying a database to view, order and pay for products or services using the Internet.
Andrew T. Ramer, President of Ocean Tomo Auctions remarked, “Given the high-level of integration of online shopping methods in many of today’s Internet sites and the broad applicability and early priority date of this patent, this is an excellent acquisition opportunity for companies in a number of industries including comparison shopping, service aggregators, Internet software and services, and Internet retail. We’re excited to offer this patent in our first live private auction, which combines the sense of urgency offered by our proven live public auction methodology with the seller’s preference for a private transaction.”
The ‘454 Patent has been the subject of previous litigation. The ‘454 Patent was asserted against Yahoo! Inc. (Case No. C00-20495-JW, N.D. Cal.); and Shop.com and Altura International (Case No. 05-CV-682-PSF-PAC, D. Col.). The Shop.com and Altura International lawsuit was settled after a Markman ruling was issued on March 2, 2006. The sale of the ‘454 Patent is subject to two existing licensing arrangements and a non-exclusive license which will be retained by the inventor.
For more information on the ‘454 Patent and to register to bid at the Private Auction being held on Thursday, May 10, 2007 at Ocean Tomo’s headquarters in Chicago, please contact David Steinkeler at 312.327.4415 or DSteinkeler@OceanTomo.com.
Ocean Tomo Auctions, the auctions arm of Ocean Tomo, LLC, is a leading Intellectual Capital Merchant Banc firm, has received global recognition as the leader in the live auctioning of intellectual property assets for some of the world’s largest and most established companies. Hundreds of key decision makers in the intellectual property and financial communities attend and participate in the auctions and related workshops, including C-level executives, Fortune 500 IP professionals, investors, small to mid-size companies, inventors and media professionals. Ocean Tomo Auctions has been featured on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Red Herring, BusinessWeek, Reuters and more. The live auctions are held in the spring and fall in the U.S. and in the summer in Europe.
To learn more, please visit: ww.oceantomo.com.
