US software giant Oracle announced Friday that it has acquired
Chicago-based Strategic Processing which is the owner of a US
patent filed in 1986 entitled ”Interactive Market Management
System." Oracle describes it as “a seminal patent in the area of
interactive, on-line marketplaces.”
The description of the patent appears to be wide enough to
potentially cover B2B and B2C e-commerce. The original inventors
described it in 1986 as follows:
"Dramatic new efficiencies can be provided
by the configuration of on-line interactive concurrent electronic
services which creates a marketplace which can serve a wide
spectrum of buyers, wholesales, distributors, suppliers, agents,
and other service providers within an industry or multiple
industries, as well as to freight, financial, and other services
deployed over any number of existing communications systems."
Oracle’s acquisition of Strategic Processing also gives it
ownership of the Canadian counterpart patent. The company has not
yet indicated any plans to enforce the patents.
