Method and system for auctioning assets and valuing same

• US 7,729,950 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2007
• Issued: 06/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hartford Fire Insurance Company (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hartford Fire Insurance Company (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Perez, Ricardo, Gordon, Francine, Marchick, David, Mendizabal, Lorenzo, Gruber, William R. Jr., Pierce, Donald
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosen; Nicholas D
• Application Number:
  US11/811,471
• Publication Number:
  US 20070244804A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,086 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/26.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A method and system for conducting, managing and executing over a communication network, an auction of claims or assets to buyers having expressed interest in purchasing claims or assets is presented. The method includes placing an indication of the availability of at least one of said assets at a remote site, wherein said indication is accessible by each of said buyers over said network, notifying at least one buyer predeterminedly expressing interest in items contained within said claims or assets of the availability of said at least one claim or asset, determining a market value of said at least one claim or asset based on historical data of same or similar claims or assets, dynamically adjusting the market value, conducting an interactive bidding process, notifying one of the bidding buyers of acceptance of a corresponding bid when said bid satisfies predetermined criteria, and recording the accepted bid.

Claims

1. A method for conducting, managing and executing over a computer communication network, an auction of at least one claim or asset to a plurality of buyers having expressed interest in claims or assets, said method comprising the steps of:

placing an indication of the availability of said at least one claim or asset at a web server on said computer network wherein said indication is accessible by each of said plurality of potential buyers over said network;

notifying at least one of said buyers of the availability of said at least one claim or asset;

determining a market value of said at least one claim or asset based on historical data of market value of same or similar claims or assets;

dynamically adjusting said market value based on one or more factors;

notifying the at least one of said buyers of the determined market value and the adjusted market value;

determining that the available volume of assets or claims is greater than a need of the at least one of said buyers;

determining whether the available volume of assets or claims can be divided into smaller volumes;

responsive to determining that the available volume of assets or claims cannot be divided into smaller volumes, initiating a notification to the seller;

receiving bids from at least one of said buyers over said network;

notifying one of said at least one buyers of acceptance of a corresponding bid when said bid satisfies predetermined criteria; and

recording said accepted bid.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the step of:

notifying a seller when said received bids fail to satisfy said predetermined criteria.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of determining a market value further comprises the step of:

accessing historical data of sales of claims or assets previously recorded;

determining an asset unit value based on said historical data; and

formulating said market value based on said asset unit value and number of said assets available.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 wherein said asset unit value is determined as a weighted average.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 wherein the weighted average is determined in accordance with one or more factors selected from the group comprising:

number of assets, duration of sale, and date of sale.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of placing an indication of availability comprises:

providing an asset identifier on said remote network location, said asset identifier identifying a quantity and characteristics of said at least one claim or asset.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of notifying at least one of said buyers comprises the step of:

selecting notification criteria of said at least one buyer based on predeterminedly provided criteria.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein said notification criteria are selected from the group comprising:

e-mail, regular mail, phone calls, express mail, courier mail, and courier.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of dynamically adjusting said market value comprises the steps of:

determining an adjustment value as a function of known adjustment factors; and

applying said adjustment value to said market value.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein said function is selected from the group comprising:

average, weighted average, medium, and median.

11. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein said known adjustment factors are selected from the group comprising:

type of industry, bankruptee debt/asset ratio, location of asset, creditor, creditor credit rating, claim value, asset class, dispute status of claim, claim amount, and perishability of asset.

12. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the step of:

recording each received bid.

13. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said predetermined criteria comprise a highest value.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the claims or assets are being auctioned in connection with a liquidation of a seller.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the liquidation is in connection with a bankruptcy.

16. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one claim or asset comprises subrogation rights.

17. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether there are sufficient claims or assets to meet a need of the at least one of said buyers;

responsive to determining that there are not sufficient claims or assets to meet the need of the at least one of said buyers, determining whether asset amount is greater than the need of the at least one of said buyers; and

responsive to determining that the asset amount is not greater than the need of the at least one of said buyers, initiating a seller notification process to inform the seller of the need of the at least one of said buyers.

18. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining that an available volume of assets or claims is greater than a need of the at least one of said buyers;

determining whether the available volume of assets or claims can be divided into smaller volumes; and

responsive to determining that the available volume of assets or claims can be divided into smaller volumes, initiating a buyer bid transaction.

19. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the determining the market value comprises formulating a weighted average value of historical sales of same and similar assets, historical sales of same assets being weighted more heavily than historical sales of similar assets.

20. A system for conducting, managing and executing over a communication network, an auction of at least one claim or asset to a plurality of buyers having expressed interest in claims or assets, said system comprising:

a memory containing code therein for;

placing an indication of the availability of said at least one claim or asset on said network wherein said indication is accessible by each of said plurality of buyers over said network;

notifying at least one of said buyers of the availability of said at least one claim or asset;

determining a market value of said at least one claim or asset based on historical data of same or similar claims or assets;

dynamically adjusting said market value based on known factors;

notifying the at least one of said buyers of the market value and the adjusted market value;

determining that the available volume of assets or claims is greater than a need of the at least one of said buyers;

determining whether the available volume of assets or claims can be divided into smaller volumes;

responsive to determining that the available volume of assets or claims cannot be divided into smaller volumes, initiating a notification to the seller;

receiving bids from at least one of said buyers over said network;

notifying one of said at least one buyers of acceptance of a corresponding bid when said bid satisfies predetermined criteria; and

recording said accepted bid; and

a processor in communication with said memory operable to execute said code within said memory.

21. The system as recited in claim 20 further comprising:

at least one input/output device interposed between said communication network and said processor to provide information items from said network to said processor and from processor to said network.

22. The system as recited in claim 21 wherein said network is selected from the group comprising:

Internet, Intranet, LAN, WAN, POTS, PSX.

23. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the claims or assets are being auctioned in connection with a liquidation of a seller.

24. The system as recited in claim 23, wherein the liquidation is in connection with a bankruptcy.

25. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the at least one claim or asset comprises subrogation rights.