Edward Pool, 45, announced recently that the US Patent and
Trademark Office had issued a preliminary “notice of allowance” for
a patent application his company submitted describing “a process
for carrying out an international transaction… using
computer-to-computer communications.”
Reports suggest that the US Patent and Trademark Office has
since indicated that the patent application is likely to be
approved, unless it can now be shown that someone else had invented
the process first. The application has undergone three years’
examination.
60% of applications for business method patents are granted in
the US, according to the US PTO.
Pool commissioned software in 1992 to help with logistical
problems for his business of the time of importing goods from
Russia to the US. He calls the system Borderless Order Entry System
(BOES). It helps businesses that import and export goods over the
internet, calculating taxes, duties and exchange rates and
generating purchase orders, invoices and bills of lading. Pool and
his lawyers argue that the patent will entitle his company to
licence fees on every trade deal across borders. His company, DE
Technologies LLC, is hoping to collect a 0.3% fee on each
computerised cross-border transaction. It estimates the global
trade market at over $5 trillion.
The patent will not have effect outside the US, although it is
likely that, if the US patent is granted, Pool will try to secure
patents in other jurisdictions that take a liberal approach to
patenting (i.e. those that allow business method patents). At
present, this excludes the European Union. However, it is feasible
that if the US patent succeeds, Pool could argue infringement by a
European company that exports to or imports from the US, depending
on the circumstances.
In an interview, Pool said of the software his company had
commissioned: “This may not be rocket science in the year 2000, but
try eight years ago.”
