Computerized dispute resolution system and method

• US 20080126266A1
• Filed: 10/30/2007
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cybersettle Holding Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cybersettle Holdings, Inc. (CyberSettle, Inc)
• Inventors: Burchetta, James D., Brofman, Charles S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,494,970 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/80
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation

Abstract

A method and system for automated dispute resolution is disclosed. The method and system are used in testing non-equal values in normal rounds for satisfaction of a condition. If the condition is not satisfied in the normal rounds, power round values are tested for satisfaction of a power round condition. If the power round condition is satisfied, a binding settlement payment is calculated. The awardee of the settlement payment is offered a plurality of disbursement options for the settlement payment which he or she may choose from. Additional options involve an automated facilitator, windfalls to initiators, automatic payment initiation, multiparty aggregation and automatic settlement document generation.

Claims

1. A computer executable method for dispute resolution, operative to control a computer and the method when executed comprising:

a) receiving at least one demand from a first party for a claim;

b) receiving at least one settlement offer from a second party for the claim;

d) determining whether any of the differences fall within at least one predetermined criterion;

e) if any of the differences fall within the at least one predetermined criterion in any round transmitting a message to the first party and the second party that the claim is resolved;

f) if, in any round, the differences do not fall within the at least one predetermined criterion, transmitting a message to the first party and the second party that the claim has not been resolved; and

g) repeating the above steps until either (i) the claim has been resolved or (ii) a predetermined number of rounds has failed to result in a resolution of the claim.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein at least the first demand and the first settlement offer are unequal in value.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the demand for a given round is received before the settlement offer for that round.

4. A method according to claim 1 wherein demand for a given round is received after the settlement offer for that round.

5. A method according to claim 1 further comprising:

limiting the number of settlement offers which may be received to a maximum of three.

6. A method according to claim 1 wherein all settlement offers are received before any of the demands are received.

7. A method according to claim 1 wherein a binding claim resolution is calculated as a function of the demand or the settlement offer in that round, if the differences between the demand and settlement offer in that round fall within the at least one predetermined criterion.

8. A method according to claim 1 wherein the demand and settlement offer in each round are kept confidential from the second party and first party, respectively.

12. A method according to claim 1, which further comprises preventing disclosure of the at least one demand to the second party and preventing disclosure of the at least one settlement offer to the first party.

13. A method according to claim 1, wherein when the claim has been resolved, the method further includes initiating an online transfer of funds from the second party to the first party.

14. A method according to claim 1, wherein when the claim has been resolved, the method further includes automatically transferring an amount for which the claim has been resolved.

15. A method according to claim 1, wherein when the claim has been resolved, the method further includes automatically structuring a payment by the second party to the first party.

9. A dispute resolution method for resolving a claim between two adverse parties in a round-by-round method which requires at least one round, the method comprising:

testing a pair of values in a first round, one value in the pair submitted by each of the parties;

applying a settlement algorithm to the pair of values to determine if a settlement has been achieved, if a settlement is not achieved in the first round, calculating a binding settlement payment of an amount at least equal to a lower of the pair of values submitted for a second or subsequent round by applying a settlement algorithm which is binding on both parties.

10. A method according to claim 9 further comprising:

limiting the settlement payment to the greater of the pair of non-equal values.

11. A method according to claim 9 wherein a binding claim resolution is calculated as a function of the demand or the settlement offer in that round, if the differences between the demand and settlement offer in that round fall within the at least one predetermined criterion.

16. An automated dispute resolution system comprising:

a. a processor for receiving at least one demand from at least one entity to the dispute and at least one offer from the other entity to the dispute;

b. input means for providing at least one criterion to be applied to each demand and each offer made in response to each demand to determine if a settlement can be achieved between the entities;

c. means for comparing the offers and demands by applying the criterion to determine if the offer and demand in a given round result in a settlement;

d. notification means for informing the entities after each round whether or not a settlement has been achieved through the application of criterion to that round;

e. if a settlement has not been achieved after comparison of the demand and the corresponding offer with the criterion, said processor repeats the process of receiving demands and offers until either;

i.) a settlement is achieved;

or

ii) a predetermined number of demands and offers have been compared using the same or different criterion.

17. A system according to claim 16, which is executable via the Internet.

18. A system according to claim 16, which additionally comprises means for automatically transferring a settlement amount from the at least one second party to the at least one first party.

19. A system according to claims 18, which further comprises means for automatically providing a structured payment from the at least one second party to the at least one first party.