Facilitating Electronic Exchange of Proprietary Information

Abstract

A method and apparatus effectuates bilateral commerce in ideas. An originator and user-driven on-line commercial network system is designed to facilitate idea submission, purchase, and licensing, and is easily adapted to business-to-business transfers of innovation as well as consumer-to-business transfers of innovation. The invention allows originators of ideas to communicate nondisclosing synopses of ideas globally to potential users, for users conveniently to search for relevant ideas and for users potentially to bind an originator to a limited duration license granting user the exclusive right to access and consider confidentially the originator's fully disclosed idea. The invention also allows users to communicate confidentially or nonconfidentially unsolved problems or needs globally to potential originators, for originators conveniently to search for relevant unsolved problems or needs, and for originators to submit and communicate confidentially proposed solutions to the soliciting user.

1 . A method of using a computer network to create an on-line forum where originators or users can post ideas or unmet need or unsolved problems comprising:
 receiving and storing in the database a plurality of two-part descriptions each supplied by an originator or a user, each two-part description including a first-level element in the form of a basic description of each originator's idea or each user's unmet need or unsolved problem, and a second-level element in the form of a detailed description of each originator's idea or each user's unmet need or unsolved problem;   permitting users or originators, or both, to access and select without restriction only the first-level elements of the stored two-part descriptions; and   permitting users or originators, or both, to search the contents of the first-level and second-level elements of the two-part descriptions but disallowing visual access to the second-level elements.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the search results display or provide access to only the first level element and may be organized and displayed according to an associated relevancy rank. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first-level element is nonconfidential in the form of a searchable and accessible basic description, and the second-level element is confidential in the form of a searchable, but not accessible detailed description. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  comprising:
 providing selecting users with an option to access the confidential second-level elements of the stored two-part descriptions that correspond to the selected first-level elements by electronically submitting to each selecting user a license agreement including a confidentiality provision and other previously supplied licensing terms; and   upon receipt of license acceptance, providing accepting users with unrestricted access on a confidential basis via the computer to the confidential second-level elements of the stored two-part descriptions corresponding to the selected first-level elements.   
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the license agreement is a limited duration, exclusive license, and the method comprises:
 upon receiving license acceptance by one selecting user, subsequently restricting other users from accessing both the first-level element and the second-level element, of the two-part description selected by the licensed user for the duration of the term of the exclusive license.   
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the license agreement is a limited duration, exclusive license, and the method comprises:
 providing an originator with the option of specifying license terms which permit users to continue to access and select the nonconfidential first-level element, but not the confidential second-level element, of a selected two-part description for the duration of the license term.   
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6  comprising:
 creating a queue of license accepting users seeking access to the selected, but license restricted second-level element.   
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7  comprising:
 establishing a priority status for each user in the queue according to the time of license acceptance, with an earlier license acceptance time having priority over a later license acceptance time.   
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 6  comprising:
 permitting users to search and rank by relevancy without restriction the second-level elements of the database without permitting visual access to the second-level elements.   
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1  comprising:
 enabling each originator to review the identity of each license requesting user and to either accept or reject the license request by each user.   
   
   
       11 . A method of using a computer to facilitate and control sequential access to a two-level information database created by inputs supplied by originators comprising:
 receiving and storing in the database a plurality of two-part descriptions each supplied by an originator, each two-part description including a nonconfidential first-level element in the form of a searchable and accessible basic description of an originator's entry, and a confidential second-level element in the form of a searchable, but not accessible detailed description of each originator's entry;   permitting users to access and select without restriction, only the nonconfidential first-level elements of the stored two-part descriptions;   providing selecting users with an option to access, search and review the confidential second-level elements of the stored two-part descriptions that correspond to the selected first-level elements by electronically submitting to each selecting user a license agreement including a confidentiality provision;   receiving and storing in the computer an acceptance of the license agreement by each selecting user; and   upon receipt of license acceptance, providing accepting users with unrestricted access on a confidential basis via the computer to the confidential second-level elements of the stored two-part descriptions corresponding to the selected first-level elements.   
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11  where the license agreement further comprises other previously supplied licensing terms. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 11  comprising:
 upon receiving license acceptance by one selecting user, subsequently restricting other users from accessing or searching both the first-level and second-level elements, of the two-part description selected by the licensed user for the duration of the term of the exclusive license.   
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 11  comprising:
 creating a queue of license accepting users seeking access to the selected, but license restricted second-level element.   
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 14  comprising:
 establishing a priority status for each user in the queue according to the time of license acceptance, with an earlier license acceptance time having priority over a later license acceptance time.   
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 11  comprising:
 enabling each originator to review the identity of each license requesting user and to either accept or reject the license request by each user.   
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the license agreement is a limited duration, exclusive license. 
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 11  comprising:
 upon receiving license acceptance by one selecting user, subsequently restricting other users from visually accessing the second-level element but permitting the other users to continue to access and select the first-level element for the duration of the license term.   
   
   
       19 . A method of using a computer to facilitate and control sequential access to a two-level information database created by inputs supplied by originators comprising:
 receiving and storing in the database a plurality of two-part descriptions each supplied by an originator, each two-part description including a nonconfidential first-level element in the form of a searchable and accessible basic description of an originator's entry, and a confidential second-level element in the form of a searchable, but not accessible detailed description of each originator's entry;   permitting users to access and select without restriction, only the nonconfidential first-level elements of the stored two-part descriptions;   providing selecting users with an option to access, search and review the confidential second-level elements of the stored two-part descriptions that correspond to the selected first-level elements by electronically submitting to each selecting user a license agreement including a confidentiality provision;   receiving and storing in the computer an acceptance of the license agreement by each selecting user;   upon receipt of license acceptance, providing accepting users with unrestricted access on a confidential basis via the computer to the confidential second-level elements of the stored two-part descriptions corresponding to the selected first-level elements; and   upon receiving license acceptance by one selecting user, subsequently restricting other users from visually accessing the second-level element but permitting the other users to continue to access and select the first-level element for the duration of the license term.   
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 19  comprising:
 creating a queue of license accepting users seeking access to the selected, but license restricted second-level element.