System and Method for Facilitating Transactions Between Two or More Parties

• US 20130173482A1
• Filed: 02/22/2013
• Published: 07/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Collaborative Agreements, LLC
• Original Assignee: Collaborative Agreements, LLC
• Inventors: Twining, Ronald Fremont, Hakim, Omar
• Granted Patent: US 10,546,356 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/125 by manipulating the program code, e.g. source code, compiled code, interpreted code, machine code
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/445 by mutual authentication, e.g. between devices or programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/64 Protecting data integrity, e.g. using checksums, certificates or signatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2115 Third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0855 involving a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3825 Use of electronic signatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4014 Identity check for transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/18 Licensing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0607 Regulated
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 : Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 : Legal services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 : Intellectual property management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 : Electronic negotiation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 : Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0421 : Anonymous communication, i.e. the party's identifiers are hidden from the other party or parties, e.g. using an anonymizer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 : providing single-sign-on or federations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 : using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 : the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/321 : involving a third party or a trusted authority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 : involving digital signatures

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for facilitating a transaction between two or more parties. An electronic document is received at a processing device. Each portion of the received electronic document is identified and designated as one of a read-only portion, a read-only portion containing one or more editable fields, a selectable portion or any combination thereof. The received electronic document is converted into an application or embeddable frame based on the designated portions for a first party using the processing device. The application or embeddable frame creates a completed electronic agreement that is legally binding on at least a second party when executed by the second party.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating a transaction between two or more parties comprising the steps of:

receiving an electronic document at a processing device;

identifying and designating each portion of the received electronic document as at least one of a read-only portion, a read-only portion containing one or more editable fields, a selectable portion or any combination thereof using the processing device; and

converting the received electronic document into an application or embeddable frame based on the designated portions for a first party using the processing device, wherein the application or embeddable frame creates a completed electronic agreement that is legally binding on at least a second party when executed by the second party.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selectable portion of the received electronic document comprises one or more optional provisions.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selectable portion of the received electronic document is linked to other portions of the received electronic device such that the other portions are automatically added, deleted or modified in the completed electronic document whenever the second party selects the selectable portion.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selectable portion of the received electronic document is automatically deleted from the completed electronic document whenever the second party does not select the selectable portion.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of incorporating an electronic signature from the first party into the application or embeddable frame such that the completed electronic document is legally binding on the first party and the second party when executed by the second party.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of making the application or embeddable frame available to the second party via download, execution on a website, execution within a browser, or an electronic device.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the transaction involves goods, services, information, property or a legal proceeding.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the transaction involves intellectual property comprising copyrightable material, ideas, patents, patent applications, trademarks, licenses or technology.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the processing device comprises a computer, a workstation, a personal data assistant, an electronic tablet, an Internet-enabled phone, a wireless communications device, two or more electronic devices communicably coupled together or a combination thereof.

10. A method for facilitating a transaction between two or more parties comprising the steps of:

executing an application or embeddable frame from a first party using an electronic device, wherein the application or embeddable frame contains an electronic document having each portion of the electronic document designated as at least one of a read-only portion, a read-only portion containing one or more editable fields, a selectable portion or any combination thereof;

displaying the designated portions of the electronic document to a second party using the electronic device;

whenever the designated portions include the read-only portion containing the one or more editable fields or the selectable portion, receiving a data from the second party using the electronic device, wherein the data comprises information for any of the editable fields or a selection of any of the selectable portions using the electronic device, and generating a completed electronic document based on the received data using the electronic device;

whenever the designated portions only include the read-only portion, generating the completed electronic document;

receiving an acceptance of the completed electronic document by the second party using the electronic device such that the completed electronic document is legally binding on at least the second party; and

providing the completed electronic document to the first party and the second party.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the selectable portion of the received electronic document comprises one or more optional provisions.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising the step of adding, deleting or modifying one of the selectable portions based on the received data.

13. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising the step of deleting one of the selectable portions based on the received data indicating the second party did not select the selectable portion.

14. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the acceptance of the completed electronic document by the second party comprises an electronic signature of the second party.

15. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the completed electronic document comprises a PDF file or other electronic file format that is protected against any content changes.

16. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the completed electronic document is further provided to a governmental entity.

17. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the completed electronic document is provided to the first party by automatically storing the completed electronic document at a location previously designated by the first party.

18. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the completed electronic document is provided via any one of an electronic mail, a downloadable read-only format, a SMS link to a website hosted file, a Twitter link to the website hosted file, a FaceBook link to the website hosted file, a filed saved to Salesforce.com, Basecamp, Highrise, Dropbox, box.com, iCloud, Google Apps or other web-based service provider.

19. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the transaction involves goods, services, information, property or a legal proceeding.

20. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the transaction involves intellectual property comprising copyrightable material, ideas, patents, patent applications, trademarks, licenses or technology.

21. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the electronic device comprises a computer, a workstation, a personal data assistant, an electronic tablet, an Internet-enabled phone, a wireless communications device, multiple electronic devices communicably coupled together or a combination thereof.

22. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising the step of receiving a third party acknowledgement from one or more witnesses, one or more notaries or one or more governmental representatives.

23. A system for facilitating a transaction between two or more parties comprising:

a server;

one or more processors communicably coupled to the server; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with a computer program communicably coupled to the processors to (a) receive an electronic document, (b) identify and designate each portion of the received electronic document as at least one of a read-only portion, a read-only portion containing one or more editable fields, a selectable portion or any combination thereof, (c) convert the received electronic document into an application or embeddable frame based on the designated portions for a first party, wherein the application or embeddable frame creates a completed electronic agreement that is legally binding on at least a second party when executed by the second party, and (d) transferring the application or embeddable frame to the server so that the application or embeddable frame is available to the second party via download, execution on a website, execution within a browser, or an electronic device.

24. The system as recited in claim 23, wherein the selectable portion of the received electronic document comprises one or more optional provisions.

25. The system as recited in claim 23, wherein the selectable portion of the received electronic document is linked to other portions of the received electronic device such that the other portions are automatically added, deleted or modified in the completed electronic document whenever the second party selects the selectable portion.

26. The system as recited in claim 23, wherein the selectable portion of the received electronic document is automatically deleted from the completed electronic document whenever the second party does not select the selectable portion.

27. The system as recited in claim 23, wherein the processors incorporate an electronic signature from the first party into the application or embeddable frame.

28. The system as recited in claim 23, wherein the transaction involves goods, services, information, property or a legal proceeding.

29. The system as recited in claim 23, wherein the transaction involves intellectual property comprising copyrightable material, ideas, patents, patent applications, trademarks, licenses or technology.

30. The system as recited in claim 23, wherein the processors comprises a computer, a workstation, a personal data assistant, an electronic tablet, an Internet-enabled phone, a wireless communications device, multiple electronic devices communicably coupled together or a combination thereof.

31. A system for facilitating a transaction between two or more parties comprising:

a server;

one or more processors communicably coupled to the server; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with a computer program communicably coupled to the processors to (a) access an application or embeddable frame from a first party via the server, (b) execute the application or embeddable frame, wherein the application or embeddable frame contains an electronic document having each portion of the electronic document designated as at least one of a read-only portion, a read-only portion containing one or more editable fields, a selectable portion or any combination thereof, (c) display the designated portions of the electronic document to a second party, (d) whenever the designated portions include the read-only portion containing the one or more editable fields or the selectable portion, receiving a data from the second party using the electronic device, wherein the data comprises information for any of the editable fields or a selection of any of the selectable portions using the electronic device, and generating a completed electronic document based on the received data using the electronic device, (e) whenever the designated portions only include the read-only portion, generating the completed electronic document, (f) receive an acceptance of the completed electronic document by the second party using the electronic device such that the completed electronic document is legally binding on at least the second party, and (g) provide the completed electronic document to the first party and the second party.

32. The system as recited in claim 31, wherein the selectable portion of the received electronic document comprises one or more optional provisions.

33. The system as recited in claim 31, wherein the processors add, delete or modify one of the selectable portions based on the received data.

34. The system as recited in claim 31, wherein the processors delete one of the selectable portions based on the received data indicating the second party did not select the selectable portion.

35. The system as recited in claim 31, wherein the acceptance of the completed electronic document by the second party comprises an electronic signature of the second party.

36. The system as recited in claim 31, wherein the completed electronic document comprises a PDF file or other electronic file format that is protected against any content changes.

37. The system as recited in claim 31, wherein the completed electronic document is further provided to a governmental entity.

38. The system as recited in claim 31, wherein the completed electronic document is provided to the first party by automatically storing the completed electronic document at a location previously designated by the first party.

39. The system as recited in claim 31, wherein the completed electronic document is provided via any one of an electronic mail, a downloadable read-only format, a SMS link to a website hosted file, a Twitter link to the website hosted file, a FaceBook link to the website hosted file, a filed saved to Salesforce.com, Basecamp, Highrise, Dropbox, box.com, iCloud, Google Apps or other web-based service provider.

40. The system as recited in claim 31, wherein the transaction involves goods, services, information, property or a legal proceeding.

41. The system as recited in claim 31, wherein the transaction involves intellectual property comprising copyrightable material, ideas, patents, patent applications, trademarks, licenses or technology.

42. The system as recited in claim 31, wherein the processors comprises a computer, a workstation, a personal data assistant, an electronic tablet, an Internet-enabled phone, a wireless communications device, multiple electronic devices communicably coupled together or a combination thereof.

43. The system as recited in claim 31, wherein the processors receive a third party acknowledgement from one or more witnesses, one or more notaries or one or more governmental representatives.