System and method for fair exchange of time-independent information goods over a network
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating exchange of information goods over a network, the method comprising:
- creating a contract proposal at the first party concerning an exchange of information goods;
digitally signing the contract proposal using a digital signature unique to the first party to create a signed contract proposal, the signed contract proposal stipulating a condition which, upon satisfaction by the second party, will create a valid contract without requiring participation of a third party; and
transmitting te signed contact proposal to the second part.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method facilitates a fair exchange of time-independent information goods between a first party'"'"'s computer and a second party'"'"'s computer over a network, such as the Internet. The first party'"'"'s computer creates a digital contract proposal concerning the exchange of information goods. The first party'"'"'s computer digitally signs the contract proposal and stipulates a condition which, when satisfied by the second party, will create a valid contract. The first party'"'"'s computer then transmits the signed contract proposal over the network to the second party'"'"'s computer. The second party has one of two options: (1) satisfy the condition in the contract proposal to create a valid contract and return the valid contract to the first party, or (2) store the signed contract proposal without satisfying the condition and supply the information goods to the first party. Upon receipt of the contract or goods from the second party, the first party'"'"'s computer supplies its information goods to the second party'"'"'s computer. In the event that either party reneges, the non-reneging party can produce the valid contract and submit it to an adjudicator for enforcement and remedy.
-
Citations
36 Claims
-
1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating exchange of information goods over a network, the method comprising:
-
creating a contract proposal at the first party concerning an exchange of information goods; digitally signing the contract proposal using a digital signature unique to the first party to create a signed contract proposal, the signed contract proposal stipulating a condition which, upon satisfaction by the second party, will create a valid contract without requiring participation of a third party; and transmitting te signed contact proposal to the second part. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A computer-implemented method for facilitating exchange of information goods over a network between a first party and a second party, comprising:
-
creating a contract proposal at the first party, the contract proposal containing an offer portion and an acceptance portion which include a definition of first goods to be provided by the first party, a definition of second goods to be provided by the second party, and terms for an exchange of the first and second goods; computing a hash value of the acceptance portion of the contract proposal; digitally signing the offer portion of the contract proposal using a digital signature unique to the first party to create a signed offer, the signed offer specifying that a valid contract will be created only if the second party signs the identical acceptance portion which computes to the hash value using a digital signature unique to the second party; and transmitting the contract proposal with the signed offer and acceptance portion directly to the second party without requiring participation by any party other than the first party and the second party. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A computer-implemented method for fair exchange of information goods over a network between a first party and a second party, the first party having first goods described in a definition D1 and the second party having second goods described in a definition D2, the computer-implemented method comprising the following steps:
-
computing a first hash value h(D1) of the definition D1 of the first goods; computing a second hash value h(D2) of the definition D2 of the second goods; creating a contract proposal CP at the first party containing terms for an exchange and the hash values h(D1) and h(D2) to uniquely identify the first and second goods; computing a third hash value h(CP) of the contract proposal CP; digitally signing the contract proposal CP using a digital signature unique to the first party; including as party of the signed contract proposal explicit terms indicating that the second party will create a valid contract upon the second party digitally signing the contract proposal CP which has the identical third hash value h(CP); transmitting the signed contract proposal to the second party; receiving the signed contract proposal at the second party; and performing, at the second party, one of the following steps;
(1) digitally signing the contract proposal CP which has the identical third hash value h(CP) using a digital signature unique to the second party to create a valid contract and returning the valid contract to the first party, or (2) storing the signed contract proposal without signing the contract proposal and supplying the second goods identified in the definition D2 to the first party. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
-
-
26. A computer-implemented method for fair exchange of information goods over a network between a first party and a second party, the first party having first goods descried in a definition D1 and the second party having second goods described in a definition D2, the computer-implemented method comprising:
-
(a) computing a first hash value h(D1) of the definition D1 of the first goods; (b) computing a second hash value h(D2) of the definition D2 of the second goods; (c) creating a two-part contact proposal CP at the first party containing terms for the exchange of the first and second goods, the contract proposal containing an offer portion OP to be signed by the first party and an acceptance portion AP to be signed by the second party, whereupon both signatures the contract proposal becomes a valid contract; (d) including in the proposal portion and the acceptance portion the hash values h(D1) and h(D2) to uniquely identify the first and second goods; (e) computing a third hash value h(AP) of the acceptance portion AP of the contact proposal CP; (f) digitally signing the offer portion OP of the contract proposal CP using a digital signature unique to the first party; (g) including as party of the signed offer portion explicit terms indicating that contract proposal will become a valid contract upon the second party digitally signing the acceptance portion AP which has the identical third hash value h(AP); (h) transmitting the contract proposal CP with the signed offer portion to the second party; (i) receiving the contract proposal CP and signed offer portion at the second party; (j) performing, at the second party, one of the following steps;
(1) digitally signing the acceptance portion AP of the contract proposal CP which has the identical third hash value h(AP) using a digital signature unique to the second party to create a valid contract and returning the valid contract to the first party, or (2) storing the contract proposal with signed offer portion without signing the acceptance portion and supplying the second goods identified in the definition D2 to the first party;wherein steps a-j are performed between the first and second parties without participation by a third party. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28)
-
-
29. A system for facilitating exchange of information goods over a network between two parties, comprising:
-
a first computing unit at a first party; a second computing unit at a second party; the first computing unit being programmed to create a contract proposal concerning an exchange of information goods, the first computing unit digitally signing the contract proposal on behalf of the first party to produce a signed contract proposal and stipulating a condition which, upon satisfaction by the second party, will create a valid contract, the first computing unit transmitting the signed contract proposal to the second computing unit; the second computing Unit being programmed to receive the signed contract proposal and to perform one of the following two steps;
(1) satisfy the condition to create a valid contract and transmit the valid contract to the first part, or (2) store the signed contract offer without satisfying the condition and transmit goods to be provided by the second party to the first computing unit;wherein the exchange is conducted between the first party and the second party without participation by a third party. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
-
-
34. In a system for facilitating exchange of information goods over a network between a first computing unit associated with a first party and a second computing unit associated with a second party, computer-readable media resident at the first and second computing units having computer-executable instructions to perform the following steps:
-
creating a contract proposal at the first computing unit describing goods to be exchanged between the first and second parties; digitally signing, at the first computing unit, the contract proposal using a digital signature unique to the first party to create a signed contract proposal, the signed contract proposal stipulating a condition that a valid contract will be created only upon inclusion of a digital signature unique to the second party; transmitting the signed contract proposal to the second computing unit; receiving the signed contract proposal at the second computing unit; performing, at the second computing unit, one of the following two steps;
(1) digitally singing the contract proposal with the second party'"'"'s digital signature to create a valid contact and transmitting the valid contract to the first computing unit, or (2) storing the signed contract proposal and transmitting the information goods to the first computing unit; andrestricting involvement in the transaction to the first party and the second party. - View Dependent Claims (35)
-
-
36. In a system for facilitating exchange of information goods over a network between a sending party and a recipient party without requiring action by a third party, a computing unit resident at the sending party, comprising:
-
a processor; a document production module executing on the processor to create a contract proposal describing the information goods, the contract proposal stipulating a condition, which upon satisfaction by the recipient party without any intervention by a third party, will create a valid contract; and a cryptographic module executing on the processor to digitally sign the contact proposal on behalf of the sending party and to compute a hash value of at least a portion of the contract proposal to uniquely identify the contract proposal to be digitally signed by the recipient party as being identical to the contract proposal signed by the sending party.
-
Specification