BoutyQuest

1. BoutyQuest Short overview and the winners

2. Founders • CKM Digital, that “builds startup businesses around significant intellectual property portfolios”, founded BountyQuest on January 12, 2000. • Founders: Charles Cella, BountyQuest CEO, former patent attorney, and Kevin B. Kuechler, management consultant and civil engineer with experience at Arthur D. Little, Computer Sciences Corporation, Waite & Company and most recently at ZEFER

3. Declared Goal • a site that offers bounties for evidence that settles intellectual property disputes; • to create a community of scientists, engineers and academics who compete to demonstrate "prior art"—evidence that someone other than the patent holder is the true inventor

4. Who pays for bounties? • companies and people who need vital information to make an important business decision. • Venture capital firms in order to assess the validity of the patents owned by companies in which they might invest. • Companies considering new products or markets post in order to find out what the state of the art is in a particular industry.

5. Who pays for bounties? (cont’d) • Lawyers whose clients have been sued or threatened with suit for patent infringement • Companies considering a merger or acquisition in order to assess the strength of the patent rights of the target. • Parties evaluating technology licenses, OEM deals, or partnerships in order to determine the value of the intellectual property that is the subject of the license.

6. How much? • The minimum bounty is $10,000; BountyQuest suggests that “For example, bounties of $100,000 or even $1,000,000 may be appropriate for…” • For every bounty posted BountyQuest charges the poster $2,500, and then 40 percent of the bounty awarded if the wanted information is found.

7. Who can be a “Hunter” • 18 or over; • legally able to enter into contracts; • authorized to give any information that is submitted; • must not submit trade secrets or other confidential information;

8. Bounties statistics • Until January 31, 2001: • about 30 bounties posted; • 19 bounties submitted; • 4 bounties collected (all $10000); • March 8, 2001: • 21 open bounties posted and about 60-80 closed.

9. Bounties statistics (cont’d) • Values ranging in between $10000 and $50000 (15@10000, 1@$20000, 4@$25000, 1@50000). • 5th bounty collected on March 8. • On the Bounty discussions group there are about 100 messages, more than 50% posted by BountyQuest.

10. Excluded information • Unpublished or secret information (even if they describe the invention and are before the relevant date). • Information already available, e.g., information cited by the examiner in the patent case and information that is cited to BountyQuest prior to posting. • Information published after the listed "Prior Date".

11. The winners • Frank Pita - prior art challenging a patent related to single-chip network routers • “one man who asked to remain anonymous.” - prior art challenging a patent related to databases. • Clarke McAllister - prior art challenging a patent related to alterable event tickets • Perry Leopold - prior art challenging a patent related to online music; • Brian Shuster - prior art challenging the DoubleClick patent

12. Bounty #1012: Network Router. • Patent # 5,991,817 • Frank Pita • engineer turned patent attorney; • he was an essential part of the small team that in the early 1990s developed the IBM 2210 Multiprotocol Router, which utilized the Motorola MC68360 Quad Integrated Communication Controller (QUICC) chip; • his submission was a 1993 technical document from Motorola.(Motorola MC68360 Product Brief)

13. Bounty #1013: Database Copying. • Patent #6,105,030 • The submission was a chapter from Rdb/VMS: A Comprehensive Guide, an out-of-print 1991 book from Digital Press, describes a "snapshot transaction," which is "almost as if Rdb/VMS takes a photograph of the database . . . freezing the database in time." Such a snapshot transaction is at the core of an Oracle patent filed in 1998.

14. Bounty #1017: Alterable Tickets to Event Venues. • Patent #6,107,932 • Clarke McAllister • engineer and business development specialist; involved in the automatic data capture industry • he had previously been president of First Tracks, Inc., which developed and marketed the Ski-Key™, a system for controlling access to ski lifts. • submitted sales literature from his company as well as a copy of an October 1995 article in Snow County describing electronic tickets worn on the wrist for access to ski lifts • patent # 5,446,265

15. Bounty #1016: Preview of Music Products and Compilation of Market Data • Patent # 5,963,916 • Perry Leopold • he and other PAN members were instrumental in the development of the MIDI standard for digital audio; • he also created a system for downloading audio files via the Internet; • he submitted a paper detailing the PAN Network which gets to the heart of the Intouch patent filed in October 1996

16. Bounty #1016: Preview of Music Products and Compilation of Market Data (cont’d) • Leopold's submission was a description of his own work in the field, a conference paper entitled "MIDI by Modem," presented at a 1987 conference of the Audio Engineering Society. In his paper he details the PAN Network through which "any member can upload and contribute sounds or programs to the Network, and from which any member can download whatever they happen to find there."

17. Bounty #1019: DoubleClick Banner Ad Patent • Patent # 5,948,061 • Brian Shuster • former cartoonist and online advertising pioneer; • known for his highly trafficked sites operated by Xpics; • his submission on the DoubleClick patent posting, a press packet and a prospectus, describe his earlier efforts to establish an online ad serving company (formed in 1995)