Thrive IP client wins its appeal and receives U.S. Patent No. 10,159,792 entitled “Methods of Reserving and Managing Vacation Rental Properties”
Congratulations to our client Vacation Finder LLC for winning the appeal and receiving U.S. Patent No. 10,159,792!
U.S. Patent No. 10,159,792 claims systems and methods for reserving and managing vacation rental properties using an interactive portal that brings together disparate entities from anywhere in the world — vacation property owners, renters, and property management companies — to combat fraud.
The New Technology:
In the past, renters might believe that they are reserving a vacation home on the internet only to arrive and find that the rental property does not exist or is not available. Or the renter might be on vacation only to have a water pipe or a fridge break and then discover that there is no local service company on call, which can quickly spoil a vacation. Similarly, vacation property owners might believe that they are dealing with legitimate renters only to find out that they have been scammed. The inventions described in the patent permit vacationers to rent a legitimate vacation home because the property is independently verified and a local property management company is under contract to make emergency service calls. Thus, the ability of scam artists to harm the various parties is substantially reduced according to U.S. Patent No. 10,159,792.
A Hard Won Appeal:
This was a particularly hard fought battle in light of the U.S. Supreme Court case Alice and its progeny, which since about 2014. This ruling has caused many U.S. patent applications directed to computer-related inventions to melt like snowflakes on a warm road. See Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 573 U.S. 208 (2014). The patent application in question, as noted above, was prepared and filed prior to Alice and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office changed its examination procedures. Nevertheless, the U.S. Patent and Trial Appeal Board agreed with Ben Klosowski, Esq. of Thrive IP. The Board reversed the patent examiner, finally resulting in U.S. Patent No. 10,159,792.
Thrive IP is pleased to have helped another of its clients protect its invention and investment!
To learn how you might protect your computer or software-related inventions, including those utilizing artificial intelligence or machine-learning, please contact Ben Klosowski, Esq. Ben is also available to discuss other inventions and other forms of intellectual property.
