System and method for rules-based control of custody of electronic signature transactions

Abstract

Techniques for electronic signature processes are described. Some embodiments provide an electronic signature service (“ESS”) configured to facilitate the creation, storage, and management of electronic signature documents. In one embodiment, an electronic signature document may be associated with custody transfer rules that facilitate transfers of custody of an electronic signature document from one user or party to another. A custody transfer may results in a transfer of rights or capabilities to operate upon (e.g., modify, view, send, delete) an electronic signature document and/or its associated data. A custody transfer rule may be trigged by the occurrence of a particular event, such as the receipt of an electronic signature.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: 
     
       1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
 accessing, by an Electronic Signature Service System (ESS) computing device, an electronic document uploaded to the ESS computing device by a first client computing device of a first user; 
 accessing, by the ESS computing device, a set of custody rules associated with the electronic document, the set of custody rules controlling access to the document by a plurality of users including the first user and a second user of a second client computing device, the set of custody rules including a custody rule transferring an access right from the first user to the second user based on occurrence of at least one event, the first user and the second user belonging to a same organization; 
 processing, by the ESS computing device, a transaction associated with the electronic document and involving a third client computing device of a third user of the plurality of users; 
 detecting, by the ESS computing device, based at least in part on evaluation of operations performed by the third client computing device in reference to the transaction, an occurrence of the at least one event; and 
 in response to the occurrence of the at least one event, transferring, by the ESS computing device, custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user in accordance with the access right, and denying the first user access, via the first client computing device, to the electronic document governed by the access right while granting the second user access, via the second client computing device, to the electronic document governed by the access right. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the event includes a response to an electronic signature request by the third user. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the response includes one of:
 a receipt of signature of the electronic document by the third user; or   a refusal of signature of the electronic document by the third user.   
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the access right comprises at least one of:
 a right to modify the contents of the electronic document; and   a right to delete the electronic document from the computing device.   
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein after the transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user, the first user is to retain a second access right to view the electronic document and to view a data structure comprising information corresponding to the signature of the electronic document. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising storing data indicating the transfer of custody of the electronic document to prevent a client device associated with the first user from accessing the electronic document according to the access right with respect to the electronic document, and to allow access to the electronic document according to the access right with respect to the electronic document to a client device associated with the second user. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 transmitting an email to the third user, the email including a link operable to access the electronic document on the computing device, wherein the event comprises receiving an indication that the third user has activated the link to access the electronic document.   
     
     
       8. An Electronic Service System (ESS) computing device comprising:
 a processor; and   memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the ESS computing device to perform operations comprising:
 accessing an electronic document uploaded to the ESS computing device by a first client computing device of a first user; 
   accessing a set of custody rules associated with the electronic document, the set of custody rules controlling access to the document by a plurality of users including the first user and a second user of a second client computing device, the set of custody rules including a custody rule transferring an access right from the first user to a second user of the plurality of users based on occurrence of at least one event;   processing a transaction associated with the electronic document and involving a third client computing device of a third user of the plurality of users;   detecting, based at least in part on evaluation of operations performed by the third client computing device in reference to the transaction, an occurrence of the at least one event; and   in response to the occurrence of the at least one event, transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user in accordance with the access right, and denying the first user access, via the first client computing device, to the electronic document governed by the access right while granting the second user access, via the second client computing device, to the electronic document governed by the access right.   
     
     
       9. The computing system of  claim 8 , wherein the event includes a response to an electronic signature request by the third user. 
     
     
       10. The computing system of  claim 9 , wherein the response includes one of:
 a receipt of signature of the electronic document by the third user; or   a refusal of signature of the electronic document by the third user.   
     
     
       11. The computing system of  claim 8 , wherein the access right comprises at least one of:
 a right to modify the contents of the electronic document; and   a right to delete the electronic document from the computing device.   
     
     
       12. The computing system of  claim 8 , wherein after the transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user, the first user is to retain a second access right to view the electronic document and to view a data structure comprising information corresponding to the signature of the electronic document. 
     
     
       13. The computing system of  claim 8 , wherein the instructions further include instructions that cause the computing system to perform an operation including storing data indicating the transfer of custody of the electronic document to prevent a client device associated with the first user from accessing the electronic document according to the access right with respect to the electronic document, and to allow access to the electronic document according to the access right with respect to the electronic document to a client device associated with the second user. 
     
     
       14. The computing system of  claim 8 , wherein the instructions further include instructions that cause the computing system to perform an operation including:
 transmitting an email to the third user, the email including a link operable to access the electronic document on the computing device, wherein the event comprises receiving an indication that the third user has activated the link to access the electronic document.   
     
     
       15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed on an Electronic Service System (ESS) computing device, cause the ESS computing device to perform operations including:
 accessing an electronic document uploaded to the ESS computing device by a first client computing device of a first user;   accessing a set of custody rules associated with the electronic document, the set of custody rules controlling access to the document by a plurality of users including the first user, the set of custody rules including a first custody rule transferring an access right from the first user to a second user of the plurality of users based on occurrence of at least one event;   processing a transaction associated with the electronic document and involving a third client computing device of a third user of the plurality of users;   detecting, based at least in part on evaluation of operations performed by the third client computing device in reference to the transaction, an occurrence of the at least one event; and   in response to the occurrence of the at least one event, transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user in accordance with the access right, and denying the first user access, via the first client computing device, to the electronic document governed by the access right while granting the second user access, via the second client computing device, to the electronic document governed by the access right.   
     
     
       16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the event includes a response to an electronic signature request by the third user. 
     
     
       17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the response includes one of:
 a receipt of signature of the electronic document by the third user; or   a refusal of signature of the electronic document by the third user.   
     
     
       18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the access right comprises at least one of:
 a right to modify the contents of the electronic document; and   a right to delete the electronic document from the computing device.   
     
     
       19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein after the transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user, the first user is to retain a second access right to view the electronic document and to view a data structure comprising information corresponding to the signature of the electronic document. 
     
     
       20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions further include instructions that cause the computing device to perform an operation including storing data indicating the transfer of custody of the electronic document to prevent a client device associated with the first user from accessing the electronic document according to the access right with respect to the electronic document, and to allow access to the electronic document according to the access right with respect to the electronic document to a client device associated with the second user. 
     
     
       21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions further include instructions that cause the computing device to perform an operation including:
 transmitting an email to the third user, the email including a link operable to access the electronic document on the computing device, wherein the event comprises receiving an indication that the third user has activated the link to access the electronic document.   
     
     
       22. A computer-implemented method comprising:
 processing, by a server, a transaction associated with an electronic document and involving a third client computing device of a third user of a plurality of users, a first user and a second user of the plurality of users having respective access rights via first and second client computing devices to the electronic document, the first user and the second user belonging to a same organization, wherein client computing devices of the plurality of users operate independently of the server;   detecting, by the server, an occurrence of at least one event based at least in part on an operation performed by the third client computing device; and   in response to detecting the occurrence of the at least one event, transferring, by the server, custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user, wherein transferring custody comprises modifying the respective access rights of the first user and second user.   
     
     
       23. The method of claim 22, wherein the at least one event includes a response to an electronic signature request by the third user. 
     
     
       24. The method of claim 23, wherein the response includes a signing of the electronic document by the third user or a refusal by the third user to sign the electronic document. 
     
     
       25. The method of claim 22, wherein the respective access rights comprises at least one of:
 a right to modify contents of the electronic document and   a right to delete the electronic document from the server.   
     
     
       26. The method of claim 22, wherein after transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user, the first user retains a second access right to view the electronic document and to view a data structure comprising information corresponding to a signature of the electronic document. 
     
     
       27. The method of claim 22, further comprising storing data indicating a transfer of custody of the electronic document to prevent the first user from accessing the electronic document and to allow access to the electronic document by the second user. 
     
     
       28. The method of claim 22, further comprising:
 transmitting an email to the third user, the email including a link to access the electronic document, wherein the event comprises receiving an indication that the third user has selected the link to access the electronic document.   
     
     
       29. A server comprising:
 a processor; and   a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the server to perform operations comprising:
 processing a transaction associated with an electronic document and involving a third client computing device of a third user of a plurality of users, a first user and a second user of the plurality of users having respective access rights via first and second client computing devices to the electronic document, the first user and the second user belonging to a same organization, wherein client computing devices of the plurality of users operate independently of the server; 
 detecting an occurrence of at least one event based at least in part on an operation performed by the third client computing device; and 
 in response to detecting the occurrence of the at least one event, transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user, wherein transferring custody comprises modifying the respective access rights of the first user and second user. 
   
     
     
       30. The server of claim 29, wherein the at least one event includes a response to an electronic signature request by the third user. 
     
     
       31. The server of claim 30, wherein the response includes a signing of the electronic document by the third user or a refusal by the third user to sign the electronic document. 
     
     
       32. The server of claim 29, wherein the respective access rights comprises at least one of:
 a right to modify contents of the electronic document and   a right to delete the electronic document from the server.   
     
     
       33. The server of claim 29, wherein after transferring custody of the electronic document from the first user to the second user, the first user retains a second access right to view the electronic document and to view a data structure comprising information corresponding to a signature of the electronic document. 
     
     
       34. The server of claim 29, the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the server to perform further operations comprising: storing data indicating a transfer of custody of the electronic document to prevent the first user from accessing the electronic document and to allow access to the electronic document by the second user. 
     
     
       35. The server of claim 29, the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the server to perform further operations comprising:
 transmitting an email to the third user, the email including a link to access the electronic document, wherein the event comprises receiving an indication that the third user has selected the link to access the electronic document.