Network-based sweepstakes system and method
CA 2386175 A1 · Owner: Mindspark Interactive Networks, Inc. · Inventors: Steinman, Jonas L.; Oberhuber, Lukas C.; Herbst, Darrel E.
Overview
Its claims, description and drawings are in the Canadian Patents Database.
Open the CIPO recordAbstract From the Canadian patent
A system and method for automatically enrolling users of a website (31) or other network-based service in sweepstakes (6). A user of a user computer system connects to a host computer system hosting a website (31) or other network-based service and is awarded points (5) for accessing features of the website or service (31). The points (5) are displayed in real-time on the user's computer and transmitted to a database server (4) which maintains the , user's point totals. The user is then automatically given a number of entries in a sweepstakes (6) based on the number of points he or she has been awarded. Users may also be awarded points for accessing features of websites or services …
Read the whole patent
Listed from its CIPO record in Patent Yard's archive of Canadian patents past their term. Its claims, description and drawings are in the CIPO record and on Google Patents, and the Claude kit works from them.
Why it's free to use
- Filed October 4, 2000. No grant is recorded for it in Canada; had it been granted, its 20-year term would have ended October 4, 2020.
- A certificate of supplementary protection adds at most two years for a drug, so even that would have ended by October 4, 2022.
- We check Canadian rights only. A patent in its family in another country could still be in force: check its family on Google Patents.
Timeline
Timeline From CIPO dates
Sources & verification
Official CIPO records
Everything on this page comes from the CIPO record linked above. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.