DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-5 are pending.
Claim Objections
Claims 2-3 are objected to because of the following informalities. The claims are dependent upon prior claim 1, without reciting “the system” of claim 1. Examiner suggests amending claim 2 to recite “The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to …” instead, and amending claim 3 to recite “The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of nodes of the DL network are further configured to …” instead. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1
Claims 1-3 are directed to a computer-implemented system (i.e., machine, and manufacture). Claims 4-5 are directed to a computer-implemented method (i.e., process). Therefore, these claims fall within the four statutory categories of invention, and thus must be further analyzed at Step 2A to determine if the claims are directed to a judicial exception (See MPEP 2106.03, subsection II).
Step 2A Prong One
In Prong One examiners evaluate whether the claim recites a judicial exception, i.e., whether a law of nature, natural phenomenon, or abstract idea is set forth or described in the claim. Claims 1 and 4 recite (i.e., sets forth or describes) an abstract idea of currency transactions using a locator that resolves to a currency address, enabling secure transfer of funds. But for the additional elements, the claim under its broadest reasonable interpretation recites limitations grouped within the “certain methods of organizing human activity” grouping of abstract ideas. The certain method of organizing human activity grouping is used to describe fundamental economic principles or practices, commercial or legal interactions, and managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people. Fundamental economic principles or practices are relating to the economy and commerce, or recite hedging, insurance, and mitigating risks. Commercial or legal interactions recite agreements in the form of contracts, legal obligations, advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors, and business relations. Managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people recite social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions. See MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2), subsection II. Here, the claim limitations reciting the abstract idea are grouped within the “certain methods of organizing human activity” grouping of abstract ideas because the limitations recite fundamental economic principles or practices, as they recite mitigating risk (e.g., mitigating risk of inaccurate currency address), and recite commercial or legal interactions, as they recite sales activities or behaviors (e.g., sale activities/behaviors of currency transactions), and recite managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people, as they recite social activities (e.g., social activities of currency transactions), and recite following rules or instructions (e.g., following rules/instructions of resolving currency address from a locator). Also, but for the additional elements, the claim under its broadest reasonable interpretation recites limitations grouped within the “mental processes” grouping of abstract ideas. The mental processes abstract idea grouping is defined as concepts performed in the human mind, and examples of mental processes recite observations, evaluations, judgments, and opinions. Claims recite a mental process when they recite limitations that can practically be performed in the human mind, with or without the use of a physical aid. The use of a physical aid to help perform a mental step does not negate the mental nature of the limitation, but simply accounts for variations in memory capacity from one person to another. Further, claims can recite a mental process even if they are claimed as being performed on a computer. See MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2), subsection III. Here, the claim limitations reciting the abstract idea are grouped within the “mental processes” grouping of abstract ideas because the limitations recite concepts that can practically be performed in the human mind, with or without the use of a physical aid (e.g., mentally resolving a currency address from a locator). More specifically, the following underlined claim elements recite the abstract idea(s) while the non-underlined claim elements recite additional elements according to MPEP 2106.04(a).
Claim 1:
A system of transferring cryptocurrency comprising
at least a server owned by or controlled by or serving on behalf of a receiving party that is configured to
be identifiable by a traditional domain name;
host a web page or an application with a uniform resource locator (URL) that contains said domain name and that may be used for resolution of at least a cryptocurrency address; and
return data that may be used for resolution of said cryptocurrency address when said URL or part of it is visited,
at least a device of a sending party that is configured to
initialize a cryptocurrency transaction with a receiving address containing said URL, and
a distributed ledger (DL) network containing a plurality of nodes that are configured to
visit the URL or part of it when a request of said cryptocurrency transaction is received;
resolve said cryptocurrency address of the URL utilizing returned data of the visit; and
complete said cryptocurrency transaction using the resolved cryptocurrency address.
Claim 4:
A method of transferring cryptocurrency comprising steps of
maintaining a traditional domain name by a receiving party or its agent on a server;
creating, by the receiving party or its agent on the server, a URL using said domain name;
preparing, by the receiving party or its agent, at least a cryptocurrency address that is intended to be resolved;
hosting, by the receiving party or its agent on the server, a web page or an application with said URL that may be used for resolution of said cryptocurrency address;
initializing, by a sending party, a cryptocurrency transaction using said URL as a receiving address;
visiting, by nodes of a DL network, said URL or part of it when a request of said transaction is received;
returning, by the receiving party or its agent on the server, data that may be used for resolution of said cryptocurrency address;
resolving, by nodes of the DL network, said cryptocurrency address utilizing the returned data; and
completing, by nodes of the DL network, said cryptocurrency transaction using the resolved cryptocurrency address.
Step 2A Prong Two
In Prong Two, examiners evaluate whether the claim as a whole integrates the exception into a practical application of that exception. A claim that integrates a judicial exception into a practical application will apply, rely on, or use the judicial exception in a manner that imposes a meaningful limit on the judicial exception, such that the claim is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the judicial exception. Here, claims 1 and 4 as a whole, looking at the identified additional elements individually and in combination, does not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. First, the non-underlined additional elements merely serve as a tool to perform the abstract idea (MPEP § 2106.05(f)). Second, the non-underlined additional elements (“crypto”, and “uniform resource” or “UR”) generally link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment (e.g., cryptocurrency, internet, domain name systems) (MPEP § 2106.05(h)). Additionally, regarding the specification and claims, there is no improvement in the functioning of a computer or an improvement to other technology or technical field present (MPEP §§ 2106.04(d)(1) and 2106.05(a)), there is no applying or using the judicial exception to effect a particular treatment or prophylaxis for a disease or medical condition present (MPEP § 2106.04(d)(2)), there is no implementing the judicial exception with or using the judicial exception in conjunction with a particular machine or manufacture that is integral to the claim present (MPEP § 2106.05(b)), there is no effecting a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing present (MPEP § 2106.05(c)), and there is no applying or using the judicial exception in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment present, such that the claim as a whole is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception (MPEP § 2106.05(e)). Further, the additional element of visiting a URL amount to mere data gathering, which is a form of insignificant extra-solution activity (MPEP § 2106.05(g)). Thus, the claim as a whole is directed to a judicial exception and thus requires further analysis at Step 2B to determine if the claim as a whole, amounts to significantly more than the exception itself (See MPEP 2106.04, subsection II).
Step 2B
Step 2B determines whether the claim as a whole amount to significantly more than the exception itself. Evaluating additional elements to determine whether they amount to an inventive concept requires considering them both individually and in combination to ensure that they amount to significantly more than the judicial exception itself. Here, the additional elements, taken individually and in combination, do not result in claims 1 and 4, as a whole, amounting to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed previously with respect to Step 2A, the additional elements merely serve as a tool to perform an abstract idea and generally link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment. A conclusion that an additional element is insignificant extra-solution activity in Step 2A should be re-evaluated in Step 2B to determine if it is more than what is well-understood, routine, conventional activity in the field. MPEP 2106.05(d)(II) indicates that “receiving or transmitting data over a network” is a well-understood, routine, conventional function when it is claimed in a merely generic manner (as it is here). Accordingly, a conclusion that the additional elements amounting to mere data gathering are well-understood, routine, conventional activity is supported under Berkheimer Option 2. Thus, there is no inventive concept in the claim and thus the claim is not eligible, warranting a rejection for lack of subject matter eligibility and concluding the eligibility analysis.
Dependent Claims
Claims 2-3 and 5 have also been analyzed. However, the subject matter of these claims also fails to recite patent eligible subject matter for the following reasons:
Claim 2 recites the following underlined claim elements as an abstract idea while the non-underlined claim elements recite additional elements according to MPEP 2106.04(a). The claims further recite the abstract idea of currency transactions using a locator that resolves to a currency address, enabling secure transfer of funds. In other words, it recites limitations grouped within the “certain methods of organizing human activity” and “mental processes” grouping of abstract ideas. The non-underlined additional elements fail to recite a practical application or significantly more than the abstract idea because it merely serves as a tool to perform the abstract idea (MPEP § 2106.05(f)). Also, the non-underlined additional elements (e.g., “crypto”, “UR”) generally link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment (e.g., cryptocurrency, internet, domain name systems) (MPEP § 2106.05(h)).
The server of claim 1 being further configured to
enable secure protocols such as https;
host the web page or application with said URL that may be used for resolution of said cryptocurrency address and identification of a customer account;
return data that
may contain said cryptocurrency address directly, or
may contain a plurality of records, each of which contains cryptocurrency address(es) and an attribute indicating corresponding DL network of the address(es) and one of which contains said cryptocurrency address that is intended to be resolved, or
may contain information guiding the resolution of said cryptocurrency address;
credit cryptocurrency to said customer account based on the transaction memo when a transaction is completed with a memo indicating said customer account; and
have a user interface to allow customers to log on and check their cryptocurrency balance.
Claim 3 recites the following underlined claim elements as an abstract idea while the non-underlined claim elements recite additional elements according to MPEP 2106.04(a). The claims further recite the abstract idea of currency transactions using a locator that resolves to a currency address, enabling secure transfer of funds. In other words, it recites limitations grouped within the “certain methods of organizing human activity” and “mental processes” grouping of abstract ideas. The non-underlined additional elements fail to recite a practical application or significantly more than the abstract idea because it merely serves as a tool to perform the abstract idea (MPEP § 2106.05(f)). Also, the non-underlined additional elements (e.g., “crypto”, “UR” and “certificate”) generally link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment (e.g., cryptocurrency, internet, domain name systems) (MPEP § 2106.05(h)). Further, the additional element “visiting the URL” is insignificant extra-solution activity as it is mere data gathering (See MPEP 2106.05(g)) and well-understood, routine, and conventional activity as it is “receiving or transmitting data over a network” (See MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)).
Nodes of the DL network of claim 1 being further configured to
recognize the part of said URL that is designed for resolution of said cryptocurrency address and the part of it that is designed for identification of said customer account;
resolve said cryptocurrency address
through extracting said cryptocurrency address directly from the returned data, or
through a more complex approach including steps of locating said cryptocurrency address first and then extracting it in case that the returned data contains addresses of multiple DL networks or contents unrelated to cryptocurrency transfer, or
through an approach guided by said returned data in case that the returned data contains information guiding the resolution of said cryptocurrency address;
decline said transaction if visiting the URL returns any certificate warnings or errors or resolution of said cryptocurrency address fails; and
move or encode and then move the URL or part of it or the part of it that is designed for account identification to a transaction memo.
Claim 5 recites the following underlined claim elements as an abstract idea while the non-underlined claim elements recite additional elements according to MPEP 2106.04(a). The claims further recite the abstract idea of currency transactions using a locator that resolves to a currency address, enabling secure transfer of funds. In other words, it recites limitations grouped within the “certain methods of organizing human activity” and “mental processes” grouping of abstract ideas. The non-underlined additional elements fail to recite a practical application or significantly more than the abstract idea because it merely serves as a tool to perform the abstract idea (MPEP § 2106.05(f)). Also, the non-underlined additional elements (e.g., “crypto”, “UR” and “certificate”) generally link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment (e.g., cryptocurrency, internet, domain name systems) (MPEP § 2106.05(h)). Further, the additional element “visiting the URL” is insignificant extra-solution activity as it is mere data gathering (See MPEP 2106.05(g)) and well-understood, routine, and conventional activity as it is “receiving or transmitting data over a network” (See MPEP 2106.05(d)(II)).
enabling, by the receiving party or its agent on the server, secure protocols such as https;
hosting, by the receiving party or its agent on the server, a web page or an application with said URL that may be used for resolution of said cryptocurrency address and identification of a customer account;
returning, by the receiving party or its agent on the server, data that
may contain said cryptocurrency address directly, or
may contain a plurality of records, each of which contains cryptocurrency address(es) and an attribute indicating corresponding DL network of the address(es) and one of which contains said cryptocurrency address that is intended to be resolved, or
may contain information guiding the resolution of said cryptocurrency address;
recognizing, by nodes of the DL network, the part of said URL that is designed for cryptocurrency address resolution and the part of the URL that is designed for account identification;
resolving, by nodes of the DL network, said cryptocurrency address
through extracting said cryptocurrency address directly from the returned data, or
through a more complex approach including steps of locating said cryptocurrency address first and then extracting it in case that the returned data contains addresses of multiple DL networks or contents unrelated to cryptocurrency transfer, or
through an approach guided by said returned data in case that the returned data contains information guiding the resolution of said cryptocurrency address;
declining said transaction by nodes of the DL network if visiting the URL returns any certificate warnings or errors or resolution of said cryptocurrency address fails;
moving or encoding and then moving the URL or part of it or the part of it that is designed for account identification to a transaction memo by nodes of the DL network;
crediting, by the receiving party or its agent, cryptocurrency to said customer account based on said transaction memo; and
logging on, by customer(s), to the receiving party's server and checking their cryptocurrency balance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Exemplary Claim Language
Claims 2 and 5 recites the term “… such as https”, which contains exemplary claim language, rendering the claim indefinite. Description of examples or preferences is properly set forth in the specification rather than the claims. If stated in the claims, examples and preferences may lead to confusion over the intended scope of a claim. Therefore, the use of these terms renders the claims indefinite. See MPEP 2173.05(d). Therefore, these claims are indefinite and are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
Lack of Antecedent Basis
Claim 2 recites "the transaction memo" without proper antecedent basis. Appropriate correction is needed.
Claim 3 recites "recognize the part … and the part …" without proper antecedent basis. Appropriate correction is needed.
Claim 3 recites "the returned data" and “said returned data” without proper antecedent basis. Appropriate correction is needed.
Claim 5 recites "recognizing … the part … and the part …" without proper antecedent basis. Appropriate correction is needed.
Claim 5 recites "the returned data" and “said returned data” without proper antecedent basis. Appropriate correction is needed.
Therefore, these claims are indefinite and are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
Relative Terminology
Claims 1 and 4 recite the term "traditional". However, the term is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one or ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention (See MPEP 2173.05(b)). Therefore, these claims are indefinite and are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
Claims 2-3 and 5 are also rejected per dependency upon a rejected claim.
Unclear Scope
Claim 1 recites "return data …” and “… utilizing returned data …”. However, it is unclear whether these limitations are referring to the same returned data or not. Therefore, these claims are indefinite and are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
Claim 2 recites "return data …”. However, it is unclear whether this limitation is referring to the same returned data or not from claim 1. Therefore, these claims are indefinite and are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
Claims 2 and 5 recites "return[ing] … data that may contain … or may contain … or may contain …”. However, it is unclear whether the data contains what is specified in the limitation or not because of the term “may”. Therefore, these claims are indefinite and are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
Claim 5 recites "hosting …”. However, it is unclear whether this limitation is referring to the same hosting step from claim 4 or not. Therefore, these claims are indefinite and are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
Claims 2-3 are also rejected per dependency upon a rejected claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2022/0351198 A1 to Seaver et al. (“Seaver”).
Claim 1:
Seaver discloses:
at least a server owned by or controlled by or serving on behalf of a receiving party that is configured to be identifiable by a traditional domain name; host a web page or an application (See at least Fig.1 items 2 and 17; paras 0031, 0033)
with a uniform resource locator (URL) that contains said domain name and that may be used for resolution of at least a cryptocurrency address; and return data that may be used for resolution of said cryptocurrency address (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071) when said URL or part of it is visited, (See at least paras 0031, 0034)
at least a device of a sending party that is configured to (See at least Fig.1 item 1)
initialize a cryptocurrency transaction with a receiving address containing said URL, and (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071)
a distributed ledger (DL) network containing a plurality of nodes that are configured to (See at least Fig.1 item 16)
visit the URL or part of it when a request of said cryptocurrency transaction is received; (See at least paras 0031, 0034)
resolve said cryptocurrency address of the URL utilizing returned data of the visit; and (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071)
complete said cryptocurrency transaction using the resolved cryptocurrency address. (See at least paras 0031, 0034, 0069, 0071)
Claim 2:
Seaver discloses all limitations of claim 1. Seaver further discloses:
enable secure protocols such as https; (See at least paras 0031, 0033)
host the web page or application (See at least paras 0031, 0033)
with said URL that may be used for resolution of said cryptocurrency address and identification of a customer account; (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071)
return data that may contain said cryptocurrency address directly, or may contain a plurality of records, each of which contains cryptocurrency address(es) and an attribute indicating corresponding DL network of the address(es) and one of which contains said cryptocurrency address that is intended to be resolved, or may contain information guiding the resolution of said cryptocurrency address; (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071)
credit cryptocurrency to said customer account based on the transaction memo when a transaction is completed with a memo indicating said customer account; and (See at least paras 0031, 0034, 0069, 0071)
have a user interface to allow customers to log on and check their cryptocurrency balance. (See at least paras 0031, 0034, 0069, 0071)
Claim 3:
Seaver discloses all limitations of claim 1. Seaver further discloses:
recognize the part of said URL that is designed for resolution of said cryptocurrency address and the part of it that is designed for identification of said customer account; (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071)
resolve said cryptocurrency address through extracting said cryptocurrency address directly from the returned data, or through a more complex approach including steps of locating said cryptocurrency address first and then extracting it in case that the returned data contains addresses of multiple DL networks or contents unrelated to cryptocurrency transfer, or through an approach guided by said returned data in case that the returned data contains information guiding the resolution of said cryptocurrency address; (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071)
decline said transaction if visiting the URL returns any certificate warnings or errors or resolution of said cryptocurrency address fails; and (See at leaset paras 0045)
move or encode and then move the URL or part of it or the part of it that is designed for account identification to a transaction memo. (See at least paras 0031, 0034, 0069, 0071)
Claim 4:
Seaver discloses:
maintaining a traditional domain name by a receiving party or its agent on a server; (See at least paras 0031, 0033)
creating, by the receiving party or its agent on the server, a URL using said domain name; (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071)
preparing, by the receiving party or its agent, at least a cryptocurrency address that is intended to be resolved; (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071)
hosting, by the receiving party or its agent on the server, a web page or an application (See at least paras 0031, 0033)
with said URL that may be used for resolution of said cryptocurrency address; (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071)
initializing, by a sending party, a cryptocurrency transaction using said URL as a receiving address; (See at least paras 0031, 0034, 0069, 0071)
visiting, by nodes of a DL network, said URL or part of it when a request of said transaction is received; (See at least paras 0031, 0034)
returning, by the receiving party or its agent on the server, data that may be used for resolution of said cryptocurrency address; (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071)
resolving, by nodes of the DL network, said cryptocurrency address utilizing the returned data; and (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071)
completing, by nodes of the DL network, said cryptocurrency transaction using the resolved cryptocurrency address. (See at least paras 0031, 0034, 0069, 0071)
Claim 5:
Seaver discloses all limitations of claim 4. Seaver further discloses:
enabling, by the receiving party or its agent on the server, secure protocols such as https; (See at least paras 0031, 0033)
hosting, by the receiving party or its agent on the server, a web page or an application (See at least paras 0031, 0033)
with said URL that may be used for resolution of said cryptocurrency address and identification of a customer account; (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071)
returning, by the receiving party or its agent on the server, data that may contain said cryptocurrency address directly, or may contain a plurality of records, each of which contains cryptocurrency address(es) and an attribute indicating corresponding DL network of the address(es) and one of which contains said cryptocurrency address that is intended to be resolved, or may contain information guiding the resolution of said cryptocurrency address; (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071)
recognizing, by nodes of the DL network, the part of said URL that is designed for cryptocurrency address resolution and the part of the URL that is designed for account identification; (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071)
resolving, by nodes of the DL network, said cryptocurrency address through extracting said cryptocurrency address directly from the returned data, or through a more complex approach including steps of locating said cryptocurrency address first and then extracting it in case that the returned data contains addresses of multiple DL networks or contents unrelated to cryptocurrency transfer, or through an approach guided by said returned data in case that the returned data contains information guiding the resolution of said cryptocurrency address; (See at least paras 0033, 0037, 0046-0049, 0068, 0071)
declining said transaction by nodes of the DL network if visiting the URL returns any certificate warnings or errors or resolution of said cryptocurrency address fails; (See at leaset paras 0045)
moving or encoding and then moving the URL or part of it or the part of it that is designed for account identification to a transaction memo by nodes of the DL network; (See at least paras 0031, 0034, 0069, 0071)
crediting, by the receiving party or its agent, cryptocurrency to said customer account based on said transaction memo; and (See at least paras 0031, 0034, 0069, 0071)
logging on, by customer(s), to the receiving party's server and checking their cryptocurrency balance. (See at least paras 0031, 0034, 0069, 0071)
Conclusion
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 10,721,060 B1 to Kaizer et al. discloses: Techniques for DNS registry facilitated assignment of a DNS domain name registered to a registrant as a blockchain user address in a blockchain network are presented. The techniques can include providing, by a DNS registry, a public key and a computer executable registry signature verification program configured to use the public key to validate signatures made using the private key for addition to a block in a blockchain of the blockchain network. The techniques can also include receiving a request for a proof of registrar of record, and providing a proof of registration message, such that the registry signature verification program validates the signature using the public key, and the blockchain network receives and stores in the blockchain an association between the domain name and an existing blockchain user address for the registrant.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ari Shahabi whose telephone number is (571)272-2565. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8:00-5:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, John W Hayes can be reached at 571-272-6708. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ARI SHAHABI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3697