priceline.com has a process patent for the the type of reverse auction
that they use to sell airline tickets.  I want a copy of the actual
patent.

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Request for Question Clarification by rainbow-ga on 14 Nov 2005 10:16 PST

Is this the patent you are interested in?

Inventors:  Walker; Jay S. (Ridgefield, CT); Schneier; Bruce (Oak
Park, IL); Jorasch; James A. (Stamford, CT)
Assignee:  Walker Asset Management Limited Partnership (Stamford, CT)  
Filed:  September 4, 1996 

Abstract:
"The present invention is a method and apparatus for effectuating
bilateral buyer-driven commerce. The present invention allows
prospective buyers of goods and services to communicate a binding
purchase offer globally to potential sellers, for sellers conveniently
to search for relevant buyer purchase offers, and for sellers
potentially to bind a buyer to a contract based on the buyer's
purchase offer. In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus of the
present invention includes a controller which receives binding
purchase offers from prospective buyers. The controller makes purchase
offers available globally to potential sellers. Potential sellers then
have the option to accept a purchase offer and thus bind the
corresponding buyer to a contract. The method and apparatus of the
present invention have applications on the Internet as well as
conventional communications systems such as voice telephony."

Looking forward to your clarification.

Best regards,
Rainbow

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Request for Question Clarification by rainbow-ga on 14 Nov 2005 10:33 PST

Does this help?

http://www.bsos.umd.edu/econ/econ456/priceline-patent.htm

Best wishes,
Rainbow

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Clarification of Question by garmish-ga on 14 Nov 2005 14:22 PST

Yes, this is the patent.  But what I would like is the full text of
the patent and patent # so I can get a better understanding of what
the USPTO will accept.

Thanks

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Clarification of Question by garmish-ga on 14 Nov 2005 21:06 PST

Great, How do I pay you?

Hi garmish,

I'm glad I was able to help you find what you were looking for.

To locate this patent in the United States Patent and Trademark
Office, enter the number of the patent ,which is 5,794,207, here:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/srchnum.htm

============================

>Great, How do I pay you?

When an answer is posted here in the Answer Box, the credit card on
file with Google Answers will be charged at the end of the month.

I hope this helps.

Best regards,
Rainbow

instant answer to my research question