Forget Acacia.... Xpays is coming.
 

They were just awarded a patent.

http://xbiz.com/news_piece.php?id=5647

Can we get the cliff notes please???

XPays Principals Awarded U.S. Patent For Internet Based Affiliate Pooling


San Francisco, October 14, 2004 -- XPays Inc. (www.XPays.com) is
pleased to announce that the United States Patent & Trademark Office
has issued U.S. Patent No 6,804,660, covering XPays' innovative
affiliate pooling technology which enables Virtual Affiliate?
advertising on the Internet. XPays principals Evan Horowitz and
Michael Landau have previously assigned their invention to their
sister company Essociate Inc. (www.Essociate.com).


"The originality of our affiliate pooling technology is confirmed by
the issuance of our first patent, and the continued growth of our
business validates the strength of the model," said Horowitz, CEO and
co-founder of XPays and Essociate. "This patent is indicative of the
foresight and innovation necessary to develop a unique affiliate
advertising network within a complex and dynamic industry. After our
initial launch in 1998, XPays endeavored to diversify its affiliate
program in mid-1999 and soon after Affiliate Pooling became the core of the XPays system."


"Considering our tremendous respect for intellectual property rights,
it is very gratifying to receive this type of acknowledgemnt from the
Patent and Trademark Office," added Landau, CTO and co-founder of both
companies.


XPays is an industry leader in the competitive performance-based
Internet advertising market, bringing together a variety of online
merchants and affiliates using the patented Affiliate Pooling model.
XPays currently partners with more than 12,000 affiliates, offering a
variety of merchants' goods and services to promote. By providing an
evolving set of tools for affiliates and merchants to combine their
resources via the XPays model, merchants have increased their brand
awareness and affiliates have profited from a stable and competitive
revenue source.


More information on U.S. Patent 6,804,660 is located at
<http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-P...number=6804660> or a
PDF may be downloaded from
<http://essociate.com/patents/US6804660.pdf>.

"According to the terms of the invention, the patent covers a system for affording Virtual Affiliates access to an existing affiliate system by configuring an existing target affiliate to receive referrals from many webmasters in an affiliate pool."

They patented webmaster refferals ?

this should get good :)

Patent Details: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-P...0&f =S&d=PALL

Abstract
---
The present invention provides a method, system and computer program for affording Virtual Affiliates access to an existing affiliate system. First, having been assigned a unique identifier within a source affiliate system, a Webmaster operates a web site. Next, a request for a target Merchant Web site triggers a correlation function, such that the source Webmaster unique identifier is correlated to a target Webmaster unique identifier functional within the unique identification system of the requested Merchant system. Next, a properly formatted entry mechanism URL is returned, enabling a hand off to the target Merchant affiliate system and including the correlated target Webmaster unique identifier. The Virtual Affiliate system is notified of transactions that originated from a referring Webmaster. Referring Webmasters may be compensated for each completed transaction according to agreed-upon terms and conditions.
---

In other words (and my interpretation), statistical tracking of sales and other identification information (hits, uniques, etc.) broken down by each webmaster through the merchant system (ie: CC or check processors) in which webmasters can be paid accordingly.

WG

youve gotta be kidding

the patent is very specific

a thread title like "congrats to our peers at XPays" would have been sexier :1orglaugh

haha nice:1orglaugh

WTF?

are you guys going to be looking for licensing rights from other programs with webmaster refferal programs then ?

:BangBang:

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh
... congrats.

your comments and question are based on your own misperception- read the patent

i dont get it. It sounds like a patent on WM Refferal. But congrats anyway :thumbsup

Sorry Evan. There's no Drama in "Congratulations to Xpays". This title has more potential to win me an xbox. :thumbsup

Seriously though... I'm no expert, from my understanding basically every affiliate program is currently infringing on your patent. Is this correct?

Thank you! We will be issuing statements next month and appreciate the congratulations. We have waited years for this day to come :thumbsup

this could get messy :helpme

i think i understand it, but can you break it down in non-legalese?

could you put this in laymen terms for us?

No- not at all- the patent is very very specific

My lawyer isn't going to be able to explain this to me until next week, can anyone explain the difference between this "affiliate pooling" and a regular affiliate program?

We do not want to pigeonhole ourselves. So, as of the moment we will be a bit careful. I look forward to discussing the patent for many years to come. The uspto added 3 years of life to it too btw.

Ok cool, I'm wrong. :1orglaugh In your estimation what percentage of adult affiliate programs are currently infringing on your patent?

Btw you guys must be very excited.

Nicely said :winkwink:
WG

I can't answer that question just yet other than to repeat that the patent is very specific.

To me it sounds like any program that puts together several products/sites for a pool of affiliates to promote. I see a lot of specifics but they all seem to be pretty standard for a lot of affiliate programs. If I'm even close to being right there's no way this is going to stand up in court.

I'll post the comments from my attorney next week.

I sense a little drama sprewing. :winkwink:

Now why did I read this thread, Xpays can you explain in detail what your patent covers other than saying that it's very specific.

You left out the keys my friend. Let us know what your attorney says :thumbsup

Your summary is not accurate.

Is dollars.com infringing on this patent?

lol its going on again

Hi- one of the aspects of filing a patent, rather than just maintaining trade secrets, is that it gets published. Please read it.

Fuck this I'm going to patent tgps.

Simple question. Is Adult.com infringing?

here is the pdf download again for anyone who wants to inspect the goods

http://essociate.com/patents/US6804660.pdf

Whatever