Brite Smart Corp. v. Google Inc.

Filing 1

COMPLAINT for Patent Infringement against Google Inc. ( Filing fee $ 400 receipt number 0540-4739057.), filed by Brite Smart Corp.. (Attachments: #1 Exhibit A, #2 Exhibit B, #3 Exhibit C, #4 Exhibit D, #5 Civil Cover Sheet)(Davis, Stafford)

EXHIBIT A
United States Patent No. 7,249,104

111111

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
US007249104B2

United States Patent

(10)

Zuili

c12)

(45)

(54)

PAY-PER-CLICK SYSTEM AND METHOD
THAT DETERMINE WHETHER A
REQUESTED LINK TO A MERCHANT
WEBSITE IS LEGITIMATE OR
FRAUDULENT

(75)

Inventor:

(73)

Assignee: Brite Smart, LLC, Wilmington, DE
(US)

Patrick Zuili, Boca Raton, FL (US)

( *)

Notice:

Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
patent is extended or adjusted under 35
U.S.C. 154(b) by 790 days.

(21)

Appl. No.: 10/360,688

(22)

Filed:

(51)
(52)
(58)

B1 * 1112004 Pettersen .................... 709/203
A1 * 5/2002 Sherwin eta!. ............... 705/14
A1 * 5/2002 So be ski et a!. ............. 717/137
A1 * 112003 Simons ....................... 705/27
A1 * 1112003 Dunham et al. ............... 705/1
A1 * 1112003 Barnes, Jr. ................... 705/14

OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Mulhall, "How Real a Threat Does Computer Crime Represent?",
Aug. 1, 1996, Computer Fraud & Security Bulletin, ISSN: 01420496.*

(57)

ABSTRACT

Aug. 12, 2004

Int. Cl.
G06Q 99100
(2006.01)
U.S. Cl. ............................................. 705/52; 707/9
Field of Classification Search ............ 705/26-27,
705/52-54, 64-67, 75-78; 713/168-169;
707/9-10, 102-104; 726/1-5, 26-30
See application file for complete search history.

(56)

Jul. 24, 2007

Primary Examiner-Mary D. Cheung
(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Joe Zheng

Prior Publication Data
US 2004/0158528 Al

6,826,594
2002/0052784
2002/0066084
2003/0014331
2003/0216930
2003/0220835

US 7,249,104 B2

* cited by examiner

Feb. 7, 2003

(65)

Patent No.:
Date of Patent:

References Cited

This invention improves upon ex1stmg pay-per-click
arrangements periodically generating a code associated with
the search-engine users. This code, preferably in the form of
a serial number, is compared to the user of the website, such
that by observing a metric like the number of clicks for a
given period of time, be it a short time or a longer period,
such as a day or a week, the system can automatically
determine if certain clicks are illegitimate. This allows the
pay-per-click company to more fairly invoice the merchants,
thereby preventing fraudulent over use.

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
6,115,742 A *

9/2000 Franklin eta!. ............ 709/224

16 Claims, 1 Drawing Sheet

Pay per click

XML get search

engine cookie
serial number
located on end

user computer
and add it to the

link.Xml
technology permit
to passthru
firewall

U.S. Patent

US 7,249,104 B2

Jul. 24, 2007

Pay per click
per click company

Verify that the serial
is Lnique.

Website

Search engine

<)
•

Search engine
result with pay per

~--------~c~li~c~k~lin~k~d=i~ff=er~e~n~t~----~
for each users

link

XML get search
engine cookie
serial number
located on end
user computer
and add it to the
link.Xml
technology permit
to pass thru
firewall

write a serial number
via activeX, Java,
Iogie based on
ID, or/and network

Search

Javascript, .
end user
cartography nioo'"lor·,tc.,.;
for each

D
Firewall

Flq-'

US 7,249,104 B2
1

2

PAY-PER-CLICK SYSTEM AND METHOD
THAT DETERMINE WHETHER A
REQUESTED LINK TO A MERCHANT
WEBSITE IS LEGITIMATE OR
FRAUDULENT

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
INVENTION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to network computing of
the type which occurs over the Internet, for example, and,
more particularly, to a method of protecting the providers of
pay-per-click services from multiple illegitimate usages.

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
15

Over the last few years in particular, the capabilities of the
Internet have grown dramatically, with the introduction of
new protocols (i.e., XML), advanced browsers, electronic
commerce capabilities, and other features.
Numerous commercial enterprises are now attempting to
somehow profit through this new infrastructure, in many
cases by providing services that attach a smaller incremental
monetary value to a particular transaction.
One such type of capability is the pay-per-click search
engine popularized by Google and other companies .. In
accordance with such a capability, a user goes to a webs1te,
and inputs the name of goods or services that they would like
the pay-per-click company to find. Various providers of
goods and services register their websites with the company,
and these are provided to the user in a list which is
prioritized by the level of compensation which the merchant
will give the pay-per-click company if the user is routed to
their site. For example, using such a system, if a user types
in "binoculars," the pay-per-click system might return five
potential links, with the most prominent one being associated with that supplier of binoculars which will compensate
for a penny or a few cents more than the links presented
below.
One problem with existing systems, is that a user may
cause an undesirable level of expenditure on the part of the
merchant by overclicking on a particular link. In some cases,
it has been known that some users have done this simply for
the purpose of undermining a particular provider or competitor. Since the existing systems have no way of kno~ing
whether a link through is legitimate or bogus, the prov1der
of the goods/services winds up having to pay the pay-perclick provider excess sums, with the fraudulent perpetrator
remaining unreprimanded.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention improves upon existing pay-per-click
arrangements periodically generating a code associated with
the search-engine users. This code, preferably in the form of
a serial number, is compared to the user of the website, such
that by observing a metric like the number of clicks for a
given period of time, be it a short time or a longer period,
such as a day or a week, the system can automatically
determine if certain clicks are illegitimate. This allows the
pay-per-click company to more fairly invoice the merchants,
thereby preventing fraudulent over use.

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30

35

40

45

50

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60

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a diagram which illustrates a per-per-click
system incorporating a preferred embodiment of the present
invention.

65

Reference is made to FIG. 1 which illustrates a typical
configuration associated with a pay-per-click implementation. It is noted that although the diagram includes certain
interconnected graphical blocks, these are not take to mean
"hardware" or "software," but may include any combination
of hardware/software necessary to implement a particular
function. In addition, although lines are drawn between the
various components, this is not meant to imply that they are
necessarily implemented in close proximity to one another,
since in many cases these capabilities will be remote.
The search engine 102 provides a result along path 104
which is indicative of a link associated with different users.
Engine 102 may be any existing or yet-to-be-developed
system, including findwhat.com, google add words, overture, looksmart.com, kanoodle.com, and so forth.
In addition to the result generated along path 104, according to this invention, the search engine generates a code,
preferably in the form of a serial number utilizing a cookie
via active X, Java, Javascript, or any other type of technology based upon the end-user's Global Unique Identifier
(GUID). In addition, or as an alterative, network cartograph_Y
may be generated periodically for each user based upon the1r
use of the search engine 102.
Although the encoded serial number is shown being
written to a floppy disk 106, again, it will be appreciated by
those of skill in the art that any type of storage capability,
such as a splash memory, and so forth may alternatively be
utilized. The code (e.g., a serial number) generated by the
search engine along path 105 is concatenated with the result
along path 104 through XML link 110. Given the serial
number provided through the cookie, this allows the concatenation to occur through firewalls and other devices
which may otherwise block the transmission as unauthorized.
As the pay-per-click company 120, information is
received regarding a click to website 122, but at the same
time the serial number is transmitted to the company 120
alan~ path 130. This allows the pay-per-click company 120
to invoice the website 122 only when the serial numbers
received. According to the invention, a legitimate serial
number may be generated in different ways, including the
first use of a different user having a unique IP address, or, if
multiple requests are made by the same user, they may be
considered legitimate if they are sufficiently spaced apart in
time to be indicative of a legitimate as opposed to fraudulent
access to the website 122.
I claim:
1. In a pay-per-click system including a search engine to
list merchant websites in an order according to incremental
compensation for click-through to the websites, a method
for determining whether a click on a link is legitimate or
fraudulent, the method comprising:
generating on a side of the search engine a code to
associate with a user of the search engine who clicks on
one of the merchant websites, the code uniquely identifYing a device being used by the user;
returning the code to the device;
generating another code when the one of the merchant
websites is clicked again by the user from the device;
concatenating the another code to the code previously
generated; and

US 7,249,104 B2
3

4

determining whether the requested link to the merchant
website is legitimate or fraudulent by examining a
duration between two visits to the one of the merchant
websites in the code.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the code is a serial
number.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the code is stored using
activeX.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the code is stored using
Java or Javascript.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the code is stored as
a cookie.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the pay-per-click
system prevents a click-though to the one of the merchant
web sites if it is determined that a requested link to the one
of the merchant web sites is fraudulent.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the system determines
that a requested link to the one of the merchant web sites is
fraudulent based upon a predetermined number of requests
from the user during a given period of time.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the code includes a
serial number identifYing the device, and facilitates said
returning the code to the device even if there is a firewall
surrounding the device.
9. In a pay-per-click system including a search engine to
list merchant websites in an order according to incremental
compensation for click-through to the websites, the system
comprising:
a device being used by a user to use the search engine;
a server hosting the search engine that generates a code to
associate with the user who clicks on one of the
merchant websites, the code uniquely identifYing the
device, and returns the code to the device,

wherein the server is configured to generate another code
when the one of the merchant websites is clicked again
by the user from the device, and
wherein the another code is concatenated to the code
previously generated, and the one of the merchant
websites determines whether a requested link to the
merchant website is legitimate or fraudulent by examining a duration of two visits to the one of the merchant
websites in the code.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the code is a serial
number.
11. The system of claim 9, wherein the code is stored
using activeX.
12. The system of claim 9, wherein the code is stored
using Java or Javascript.
13. The system of claim 9, wherein the code is stored as
a cookie.
14. The system of claim 9, wherein the pay-per-click
system prevents a click-though to the one of the merchant
websites if it is determined that a requested link to the one
of the merchant websites is fraudulent.
15. The system of claim 9, wherein the system determines
that a requested link to the one of the merchant websites is
fraudulent based upon a predetermined number of requests
from the user during a given period of time.
16. The system of claim 9, wherein the code includes a
serial number identifYing the device, and facilitates said
returning the code to the device even if there is a firewall
surrounding the device.

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* * * * *

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION
PATENT NO.
APPLICATION NO.
DATED
INVENTOR(S)

: 7,249,104 B2
: 10/360688
: July 24, 2007

Page 1 of 1

: Patrick Zuili

It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below:

Figure 1, path 105, line 2, "activeX" should be changed to --ActiveX --.
Column 2, line 22, "active X" should be changed to --ActiveX--.
Column 3, line 8, "activeX" should be changed to --ActiveX--.
Column 4, line 14, "activeX" should be changed to --ActiveX--.

Signed and Sealed this
Nineteenth Day of February, 2013

Teresa Stanek Rea
Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office