Paid Attains Patent Approval
Worcester, Massachusetts – ( Cheap Web Hosting Directory) – April 20, 2007 – Celebrity web hosting and services provider, Paid, Inc., has reported that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued the Notification of Allowance for Paid’s patent application covering online shipping calculation technology.
The Notification of Allowance comes in response to several prior meetings held between Paid’s management and legal counsel and the USPTO. The USPTO has allowed multiple pending claims related to shipping calculation for an online open-bidding auction in the patent application and will be issuing a patent that will include these claims. The USPTO generally issues a patent within 90 days following a formal Notification of Allowance. A key feature of Paid’s patent is the use of a zip code as a location indicator so shipping rates can be calculated based on the shipping distance between origination and destination points.
Greg Rotman, CEO of Paid, Inc. remarked, ”We believe that the patent could be extremely valuable and may enable us to pursue licensing agreements with numerous online companies. Nearly every online auction seller needs to ship their product to the buyer, necessitating that they calculate shipping costs. With the growth of zoned shipping charges by major carriers in the past few years, the zip code has become a critical factor for calculating shipping costs. We intend to actively pursue licensing agreements for our shipping calculation technology and take measures to protect it from infringement. We also are considering selling the patent to entities that could handle these functions for us and pay a royalty on each licensing agreement secured.”
Mr. Rotman added, ‘We are coming to the end of a five-year patent application process which included extensive prior art searches and diligence by the USPTO. It is our understanding that the USPTO has recently dramatically increased its scrutiny of all business method/process patent applications, such as Paid’s, and is granting fewer of them than in the past. While the delay has been extremely challenging for us and our shareholders, we believe the USPTO’s additional diligence will make our resulting patent all the stronger and better able to prevail if challenged.”
Paid’s shipping calculator technology is already in use through Paid’s aiShip software used by hundreds of companies, as well as within numerous ecommerce sites hosted and/or managed by Paid, Inc.
Paid’s forthcoming patent will cover many of the features of the aiShip software, including the real-time calculation of shipping charges for multiple carriers, such as the U.S. Post Office, DHL, FedEx, and UPS, based upon a location indication, such as a zip code, and other characteristics of the item being shipped, such as weight, special packaging, and insurance costs. In addition, the aiShip software enables the calculation of shipping and handling charges for shipping multiple orders from a vendor to the same buyer, as well as calculating handling charges, shipping insurance costs, and sales tax. Unlike many online e-commerce sites that calculate shipping only during checkout, aiShip’s calculation enables the shipping cost to appear immediately when an item is placed in an online shopping cart or bid on at auction, and it updates as items are added or removed from the online shopping cart or when the bid changes.
Despite tremendous improvements in the online shopping experience, one of online shoppers’ most common complaints is that information about total cost is frequently not available until checkout. Surveys by Keystone Systems, a consulting group that improves online business performance, found that on most retail sites, entering the checkout process is the only way to receive accurate pricing information, including tax, shipping and other charges. Analysts estimate that anywhere from one third to one half of abandoned shopping carts are related to shipping and handling costs.
According to a 2005 report by Forrester, online consumer auction sales in the U.S. will reach $65 billion by 2010, accounting for nearly one-fifth of all online retail sales. Online auctions appear poised to exceed that mark, as one online auction company reported that its 2006 gross merchandise volume exceeded $50 billion. In 2006, several billion items were listed on online auction platforms. Forrester’s 2005 report also noted that online retail sales, which they define as B2C sales of goods including auctions and travel, will grow to $329 billion in 2010.
Mr. Rotman was a recent guest on Traders Nation, the largest syndicated ”live” radio talk show for stocks on the following stations: Internet: www.tradersnation.com/player.shtml, KBNP 1410AM, Portland, OR, KSBN 1230AM, Spokane, WA, KITZ 1400AM, Port Orchard, WA, KGTK 920AM, Olympia, WA, WLLA 1680AM, Long Lake, MN, KBNN 750AM, Lebanon, MO and New York ABC’s Starguide Satellite System (heard, on average, by 1.4 million listeners).
Paid, Inc.’s celebrity services provides famous people with official web sites and fan club services that include e-commerce storefronts, ticketing and fan experience packages, and web site content. The Company also sponsors autograph signing events and other sports marketing services for sports clientele. Using proprietary patent-pending technology, Paid’s patent-pending AuctionInc brand shipping calculation and auction management software and services are utilized to streamline online auctions, ecommerce and web site development and hosting.
To learn more about the aiShip software, please visit: www.auctioninc.com.
For more information about Paid web hosting services, please visit: www.paid.com.