Invalidity dossier
US 5966705
Added 9/23/2026, 8:27:54 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview: US 5966705 A
Title: Tracking a user across both secure and non-secure areas on the Internet, wherein the user is initially tracked using a globally unique identifier.
Assignee: Original assignee Microsoft Corp; current assignee listed as Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC. Inventors: Sudheer Koneru and Michael H. Tuchen.
Key dates: Priority/filing date 1997-06-30; publication/grant date 1999-10-12; anticipated expiration 2017-06-30; status "Expired – Lifetime."
Purpose: The invention relates generally to tracking a user on a computer network (Internet or Intranet), and in particular to tracking a user across secure and non-secure areas within a site. The stated aim is to provide a system and method for tracking a user across both areas using a single database entry, while also providing a heightened level of security in non-secure areas.
Plain-language scope: In a non-secure area (e.g., a public or registration-based private area), the user is assigned a token such as a GUID (a 128-bit string), stored in a client cookie and used as a key to a database entry. When the user enters a secure area, the site uses the user identification (entered with a password) rather than the token as the key to the same database entry, and stores the user identification in a cookie. Additional security comes from storing a copy of the token in the database entry: on access, the cookie token is compared with the stored copy; if they match, the user is deemed authentic and may receive customized documents; if not, an error is generated or generic, uncustomized documents are provided. The excerpt describes flow diagrams (FIGS. 1–5) covering tracking before, upon, and after entering a secure area, plus a general computer system environment.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5966705/en
What the excerpt does not establish: It provides only a partial text (noted as excerpted), not the full claims or detailed description; it does not include claim language verbatim, prosecution history, or the complete specification. Legal-status statements are assumptions of the source, not legal conclusions.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:41:24 PM
Cases on file (0)
Specific litigation cases in our database that name US patent 5966705. The free-form analysis below may also discuss cases beyond this list.
No cases on file mention this patent. Upload a CSV or add a case manually in Admin → Manage litigation cases.
Litigation summary
Past and pending lawsuits — plaintiffs, defendants, jurisdictions, outcomes, and notable rulings.
Proceedings on file (0)
All PTAB activity →AIA trial proceedings (IPR / PGR / CBM) filed at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board against this patent. Sourced from the USPTO Open Data Portal and refreshed every six hours; each proceeding number deep-links to the PTAB E2E docket.
No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.