Systems and methods for reselling electronic merchandise

• US 7,640,186 B1
• Filed: 11/15/2000
• Issued: 12/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: CFPH LLC (Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P.)
• Original Assignee: CFPH LLC (Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P.)
• Inventors: Lutnick, Howard W., Ginsberg, Philip M., Kirwin, Glenn D., Fraser, Stuart A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Barrett; Suzanne D
• Application Number:
  US09/713,529
• Time in Patent Office: 3,331 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705 26- 29, 705/39, 705/44, 705/50, 705/51, 705/53, 705 56- 59, 705/75, 705/76, 713/156, 713/161, 713/168, 713/194, 713/200, 713/201
• US Class Current: 705/26.35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification

Abstract

A service is provided that verifies, repairs, and provides a resale mechanism for electronic merchandise over the Internet. A reseller sends in a request to sell electronic merchandise. The service provider may verify the authenticity of the merchandise. Next, depending on the reseller'"'"'s requests, the service provider may verify the electronic merchandise and repair the electronic merchandise if the data is faulty. When the electronic merchandise is ready, the service provider may advertise the merchandise using a method specified by the reseller. Once there is a buyer, the service provider may notify the reseller, a transaction may occur, and the electronic merchandise and copyrights may be transferred from reseller to buyer.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving from a seller a request to transfer electronic merchandise;

verifying that the seller of the electronic merchandise owns the electronic merchandise;

verifying content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise by comparing the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise to content of at least one known-good version of the electronic merchandise;

determining that the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise is not the same as the content of the at least one known-good version of the electronic merchandise;

based at least in part on determining that the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise is not the same as the content of the at least one known-good version of the electronic merchandise, repairing a faulty portion of the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise; and

causing the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise to be transferred to a buyer at least in part in response to verifying that the seller owns the electronic merchandise, verifying the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise, and repairing the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise;

wherein after the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise is transferred to the buyer the seller retains a copy of the electronic merchandise, the method further comprising causing the copy of the electronic merchandise retained by the seller to be modified thereby preventing the seller from using the copy of the electronic merchandise.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the electronic merchandise from the seller;

and

wherein verifying the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise comprises detecting data errors that occurred prior to receiving the request to transfer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein repairing the faulty portion of the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise comprises replacing the faulty portion of the content of the electronic merchandise with a portion of the content of the at least one known-good version of the electronic merchandise.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein repairing the faulty portion of the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise comprises replacing one or more bits comprising the faulty portion of the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise with one or more bits comprising the content of the at least one known-good version of the electronic merchandise.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the copy of the electronic merchandise retained by the seller to be modified comprises causing the copy to be encrypted.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the copy of the electronic merchandise retained by the seller to be modified comprises causing at least one of data and noise to be inserted into the copy.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the copy of the electronic merchandise retained by the seller to be modified comprises causing a password block to be placed on the copy.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying that the seller of the electronic merchandise owns the electronic merchandise comprises:

obtaining from the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise an identifier code, wherein the identifier code has associated therewith an indication of a current owner of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise;

determining the indication of the current owner associated with the identifier code; and

determining that the indication of the current owner comprises the seller.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising transferring ownership of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise from the seller to the buyer by changing the indication of the current owner associated with the identifier code from the seller to the buyer.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the identifier code comprises an indication of at least one of an originator of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise and the seller.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the identifier code comprises at least one of a digital watermark, a digital fingerprint, and a digital signature.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the identifier code has associated therewith the indication of the current owner of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise and one or more indications of prior owners of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the indication of the current owner comprises accessing a database that maintains the association between the identifier code and the indication of the current owner of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein transferring ownership of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise from the seller to the buyer comprises updating the database such that the indication of the current owner associated with the identifier code of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise comprises the buyer.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the copy of the electronic merchandise retained by the seller to be modified comprises at least one of:

causing data to be inserted into the copy,

causing noise to be inserted into the copy,

causing a password block to be placed on the copy,

causing the copy to be encrypted, and

causing the copy to be deleted.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise comprises comparing one or more bits comprising the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise to one or more bits comprising the content of the at least one known-good version of the electronic merchandise.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the seller an indication to verify content of electronic merchandise; and

in response to the indication to verify, verifying the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving from the seller an indication to repair faulty content of electronic merchandise; and

in response to the indication to repair, repairing the faulty portion of the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise and repairing the faulty portion of the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise are performed on a copy of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein causing the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise to be transferred to the buyer comprises causing the copy of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise to be transferred to the buyer.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein owning the electronic merchandise comprises a right to transfer the electronic merchandise.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the seller comprises a consumer that previously purchased the electronic merchandise that the seller is now requesting to transfer.

23. An apparatus comprising at least one computing device programmed to:

receive from a seller a request to transfer electronic merchandise;

verify that the seller of the electronic merchandise owns the electronic merchandise;

verify content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise by comparing the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise to content of at least one known-good version of the electronic merchandise;

determine that the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise is not the same as the content of the at least one known-good version of the electronic merchandise;

based at least in part on determining that the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise is not the same as the content of the at least one known-good version of the electronic merchandise, repair a faulty portion of the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise; and

transfer the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise to a buyer at least in part in response to verifying that the seller owns the electronic merchandise, verifying the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise, and repairing the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise;

wherein after the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise is transferred to the buyer the seller retains a copy of the electronic merchandise; and

wherein the at least one computing device is further programmed to cause the copy of the electronic merchandise retained by the seller to be modified thereby preventing the seller from using the copy of the electronic merchandise.

24. The apparatus of claim 23,

wherein the at least one computing device is further programmed to receive the electronic merchandise from the seller;

and

wherein to verify the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise comprises to detect data errors that occurred prior to receiving the request to transfer.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein to repair the faulty portion of the content of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise comprises to replace the faulty portion of the content of the electronic merchandise with a portion of the content of the at least one known-good version of the electronic merchandise.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein to cause the copy of the electronic merchandise retained by the seller to be modified comprises to cause the copy to be encrypted.

27. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein to cause the copy of the electronic merchandise retained by the seller to be modified comprises to cause at least one of data and noise to be inserted into the copy.

28. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein to cause the copy of the electronic merchandise retained by the seller to be modified comprises to cause a password block to be placed on the copy.

29. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein to verify that the seller of the electronic merchandise owns the electronic merchandise comprises to:

obtain from the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise an identifier code, wherein the identifier code has associated therewith an indication of a current owner of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise;

determine the indication of the current owner associated with the identifier code; and

determine that the indication of the current owner comprises the seller.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the at least one computing device is further programmed to transfer ownership of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise from the seller to the buyer by changing the indication of the current owner associated with the identifier code from the seller to the buyer.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein to determine the indication of the current owner comprises to access a database that maintains the association between the identifier code and the indication of the current owner of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein to transfer ownership of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise from the seller to the buyer comprises to update the database such that the indication of the current owner associated with the identifier code of the seller'"'"'s electronic merchandise comprises the buyer.