Two-part pricing of differentiated goods

• US 7,287,007 B1
• Filed: 03/07/2000
• Issued: 10/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Dietmar Detering
• Original Assignee: Dietmar Detering
• Inventors: Detering, Dietmar
• Primary Examiner(s): Poinvil; Frantzy
• Application Number:
  US09/520,123
• Time in Patent Office: 2,786 Days
• Field of Search: 705/37, 705/10, 705/12, 705/51
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A method of making intellectual property goods available by determining and charging prices that reflect the value that consumers assign to an increased variety and quality of those goods available for their use. For this purpose, consumers are bundled into groups. Through a communications network members of the groups vote in samples on the purchase of personal, nontransferable usage rights of as many intellectual property goods as possible by stating their willingness to pay for desired outcomes. A pivotal tax levied on pivotal voters ensures truthful demand revelation. All nonvoting members of the group then pay for the use rights a price resembling the voting sample'"'"'s revealed willingness to pay or, in case of an approval of the purchase of usage rights, the price the voting sample voted on.

Claims

1. A method of selling personal, non-transferable usage rights of unlimited availability, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) electronically offering through a communications network personal nontransferable usage rights which are executable either at prices that aim at reflecting the costs associated with the execution of said usage rights or under conditions of a competitive supply environment;

(b) storing in a database a group of consumers records and offering through said network to a sample of said group a price for said usage rights to be paid by each member of said sample in case of accepting the offer;

(c) causing said sample to vote on said offered usage rights by members of said sample stating their willingness to pay for either accepting or rejecting said offer and collecting results of said vote through said network;

(d) through said network determining any pivotal payments from any pivotal member of said voting sample whose stated willingness to pay for a certain outcome alone was sufficient to swing the outcome from an outcome undesirable to him or her, said pivotal payment comprising a margin between all pro and contra votes while either including or excluding the vote of a said pivotal member under consideration;

(e) through said network accepting or rejecting offers of said usage rights for all members of said voting sample according to the result of the vote; and

(f) through said network correspondingly applying the offered price for the usage rights to said group in the case of an approving vote of the sample, but taking a revealed willingness to pay for said usage rights by the sample as a basis for the price to be paid by the remaining members of the group in the case of a rejecting vote of the sample while excluding said voting sample from the payment for said usage rights.

2. The method defined in claim 1 wherein said prices at which said usage rights are executable are zero or negative in case the costs associated with the execution of said usage rights do not justify the expense of collecting proceeds or in case a supplier wants to promote the use of his or her goods being covered by said usage rights.

3. The method defined in claim 1, further storing additional groups of consumers records in the database in order to allow segregation of consumers into homogeneous groups in respect to the members'"'"' supposed marginal willingness to pay for said usage rights, the members'"'"' ability to pay, and/or the members'"'"' supposed pattern of interest in said usage rights.

4. The method defined in claim 1 wherein, after a said sample revealing a willingness to pay for said usage rights, the prices for said usage rights are offered to suppliers of the goods covered by said usage rights, said suppliers then deciding whether or not to accept.

5. The method defined in claim 1 wherein said sample'"'"'s revealed willingness to pay for said usage rights is taken as a basis for the price to be paid by the remaining members of the group, irrespective of whether or not said voting sample approved the purchase of said usage rights at the price voted upon.

6. The method defined in claim 1 wherein, in case of a rejection of the offered usage rights, the members of said voting sample are being held not to employ any alternative means of gaining said usage rights for the duration of the rejected usage rights'"'"' validity.