Patent Issued For Online Shipping Calculation Process
Written by Evan SchumanJanuary 17th, 2008
E-tailers trying to focus on distinctive value-add while using as much industry standard functionality as possible have another hurdle, courtesy of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
The USPTO has issued a patent—to be effective Jan. 29—for a method for "real-time calculations of shipping costs for items purchased online using a zip code as a destination location indicator." The patent, which covers calculating such shipments across multiple carriers, and accounts for additional characteristics of the item being shipped, such as weight, special packaging, handling, and insurance costs, according to the company who was awarded the patent, Paid Inc.
The patent was applied for in May 2000 and will be given Patent# 7324968.
One Comment | Read Patent Issued For Online Shipping Calculation Process
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Our Comment SPAM system is getting very aggressive these days and has been blocking legitimate comments. If you post a comment and don't see it appear within 2 hours or so, can you please send a heads-up to customer-service@storefrontbacktalk.com? Ideally, please include the time you posted the comment. That will allow us to try and hunt for it. Thanks! P.S. We're working on fixing the system, but we don't want to lose any valuable comments in the meantime.
-Gavin Phillips
January 18th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
It’s always bothered be when patents are issued for common tasks like this one. Some company would try to patent typing if they could get away with it.