This report was approved by the Web Payments Working Group Patent Advisory Group (PAG) on 15 March 2017.
The goal of the W3C Patent Policy is to assure that Recommendations produced under this policy can be implemented on a Royalty-Free (RF) basis. W3C forms Patent Advisory Groups (PAGs) when patent claims are asserted against or expressly excluded from royalty-free commitment for implementations of W3C Recommendations.
In August 2016 W3C launched the Web Payments Working Group Patent Advisory Group (PAG) in response to patent disclosures and exclusions by Visa Europe (the "Disclosed Patents") claimed to bear relevance to the Payment Request API and Payment Method Identifiers specifications (collectively, the "Web Payments Specifications").
In this report, the PAG concludes that the Disclosed Patents do not contain Essential Claims as defined in the W3C Patent Policy and recommends that the Web Payments Working Group continue to work on the Web Payments Specifications.
The issued patents of the Disclosed Patents are listed below. The PAG has not analyzed the pending applications of the Disclosed Patents because they have not been allowed.
Issued Disclosed Patents |
Filing Date |
Priority Documents |
Claims excluded from |
(12/143,509) |
2008.06.20 |
60/946,113 (2007.06.25) 61/034,904 (2008.03.07) |
1-5; 7-11; 13-16; 18-30 |
(WO09/002972) |
2008.06.24 |
60/946,113 (2007.06.25) 61/034,904 (2008.03.07) 12/143,509 (2008.06.20) |
1-11; 13-40 |
(13/358,475) |
2012.01.25 |
60/946,113 (2007.06.25) 61/034,904 (2008.03.07) 12/143,509 (2008.06.20) (DIV) |
1-26 |
(13/355,270) |
2012.01.20 |
60/946,113 (2007.06.25) 61/034,904 (2008.03.07) 12/143,509 (2008.06.20) (CON) |
1-14 |
2013.10.09 |
60/946,113 (2007.06.25) 61/034,904 (2008.03.07) 12/143,509 (2008.06.20) (CON) 13/355,270 (2012.01.20) (CON) |
1-16 |
|
2013.11.08 |
60/946,113 (2007.06.25) 61/034,904 (2008.03.07) 12/143,509 (2008.06.20) (DIV) 13/358,475 (2012.01.25) (DIV) |
1-5; 7-17; 19 |
The Disclosed Patents are related to payment transactions conducted between a consumer, a merchant, and a non-merchant entity. The non-merchant entity may be a payment processing network. The consumer may have an access device, such as a point of sale (POS) terminal, personal computer, and a mobile phone.
By way of summary, the Disclosed Patents state:
"Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for handling and/or authorizing payment requests by a consumer for a transaction. In one aspect, a consumer message including payment information is sent directly from the consumer to a non-merchant entity, such as VISA, instead of to the merchant. The consumer message advantageously may include a transaction identifier, thereby allowing tracking of the transaction between the consumer, merchant, and non-merchant, with little impact on the existing protocol for transactions between consumers and merchants. All or a portion of the payment information can also advantageously not be made available to any entity not already in possession of the payment information.
"In another aspect, an application page (e.g. a checkout page) is sent from the merchant to the consumer. In response to a first payment mechanism being selected, the application page has a destination of a submit payment element on the application page directed to a server not operated by the merchant. Payment information is advantageously sent to the non-merchant when the submit payment element is activated, thereby advantageously allowing the consumer experience to be uninterrupted. The consumer may also not have to enroll in any program or create an account, which might prevent adoption of such payment mechanisms."
See, e.g., U.S. Patent No. 8121942, col. 2, lines 28-51.
wherein when one of the first payment mechanisms is selected, the first code directs a destination address of a submit payment element on the application page to be a server not operated by the merchant, and wherein account information of an account of the consumer to be used for the transaction is sent to the non-merchant server in the consumer message when the submit payment element is activated
receiving, at the server computer of the non-merchant entity, transaction information from a merchant server, wherein the transaction information comprises a merchant ID;
correlating, by the server computer of the non-merchant entity, the transaction information and the device information; and
performing additional processing, by the server computer of the non-merchant entity.
With respect to Groups 1, 3, and 4 Claims: To improve the user experience of making payments, the Web Payments Specifications move some functionality from the merchant application page to the consumer-side applications: browsers and payment apps chosen by the user. Thus, the claims that refer to functionality on merchant application pages are not essential to the implementation of the Web Payments Specifications.
With respect to Group 2 Claims: The Web Payments Specifications do not address user enrollment, and thus Group 2 Claims are not essential to the implementation of the Web Payments Specifications.
With respect to Group 5 Claims: The Web Payments Specifications do not require communication of device-specific information, and thus Group 5 Claims are not essential to the implementation of the Web Payments Specifications.
Because all Disclosed Patents were deemed not to contain Essential Claims, the PAG did not pursue analysis of prior art subsequent to its initial call for prior art.
The PAG concludes that the Web Payments Specifications do not require the claim elements underlined in the claims above for the Disclosed Patents. Accordingly, the PAG concludes that the Disclosed Patents do not contain Essential Claims as defined in the W3C Patent Policy.
The PAG recommends that work on the Web Payments Specifications continue.
None of the authors is your attorney. No part of this report is intended as legal advice either to W3C or to its members. It is intended merely as a summary of what the PAG has learned to date. Rely on this report entirely at your own risk. This analysis includes the personal opinions of the authors.
THESE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WEB PAYMENTS WORKING GROUP PATENT ADVISORY GROUP ARE NOT LEGAL ADVICE. NEITHER W3C NOR ANY OF THE PARTICIPANTS OF THIS PATENT ADVISORY GROUP OR THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYERS TAKES ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY, LEGAL CORRECTNESS OR OTHER FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS REPORT. ESPECIALLY, NEITHER W3C NOR ANY OF THE PARTICIPANTS OF THIS PATENT ADVISORY GROUP OR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYERS MAKE ANY REPRESENTATION THAT FOLLOWING THE RECOMMENDATIONS HERE WILL AVOID AN INFRINGEMENT OF ANY PATENTS MENTIONED IN THE REPORT.
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