Innovate or Perish: Managing the Enduring Technology Company in the Global Market

Using Business Method Patents to Protect Core Market Interests beyond Finance and E-Commerce

Major Users

Among the major users of business method patenting practices are Fortune 500 companies in business communications, document management, electronics, imaging, and software whose business models most readily fit the format of the business method patent. These organizations are creating new processes and methods for communications related to purchasing and selling, document classification and file management, enhanced security of information and currency, and so on. Proprietary hardware or software often forms an integral part of the business method. Unlike fluid flow in the chemical and petroleum industries, business processes involve the flow of information that is not contained in physical conduits. Yet the protection of these “information-flow” processes is as important to assure encouragement and protection of business innovation of the twenty-first century as fluid flow processes were in the twentieth century.

Pitney Bowes owns a large number of BMPs and applications and are a recognized leader in BMP’s.^[8] The company has transformed from a postage-metering company to a leading provider of a wide range of business office solutions that help companies communicate with their customers. Their innovative methods are well suited to protection by BMPs of USPTO Class 705. Pitney Bowes files counterparts of their U.S. business method claims in the European Patent Office.^[9] Angelo ...