Invalidity dossier
US 7870050
System and method for an efficient dynamic multi-unit auction
Current assignee: Individual
Added 9/23/2026, 11:32:26 AM
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 7,870,050 B2
Title: System and method for an efficient dynamic multi-unit auction
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7870050/en
Bibliographic facts (as supplied): Inventor Lawrence M. Ausubel. Current assignee and original assignee: Individual. Priority date 2000-05-18 (claimed from US 09/573,007); filing date 2008-12-15 (application US 12/334,955); publication date 2011-01-11. Legal status listed as "Expired – Lifetime," with anticipated expiration 2020-05-18. Classification G06Q30/08 (Auctions), among others.
Purpose: The patent relates to improving computer-implemented auctions and, more particularly, to computer implementation of an efficient dynamic multi-unit auction. According to the supplied definitions, it seeks a dynamic multi-unit auction in which the price paid or received by bidders tends to be independent of their own bids, participants may receive information about competitors' bids as the auction progresses, and confidentiality of high values is maintained. The stated advantage is improved economic efficiency over the prior art, including efficient auctioning of multiple types of goods or services and items with complex substitution possibilities.
Plain-language scope (from the excerpt): The invention is a computer or computer system that receives bids from multiple bidders for multiple items in a dynamic bidding process and usually determines an allocation of the items among bidders. It is also expressed as a computer-implemented method and as a machine-readable medium storing instructions causing a computer to perform those steps. Structurally, the excerpt describes a bidding information processor (BIP) communicating via a network with an auctioneer terminal (AT) and multiple bidder terminals (BTs); bidders enter bids in multiple rounds and may observe displayed auction information, while the auctioneer at the auctioneer terminal controls the auction's progress.
What the excerpt does not establish: It does not provide claim language or claim numbers, the full specification, or the precise scope of any claim. It does not establish litigation, ownership transfers, validity, or prior art beyond the single priority reference noted. The assignee listing is expressly stated to be an assumption, not a legal conclusion, and legal status likewise.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:53:55 PM
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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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.