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Technology Stocks : Booking Holdings (formerly Priceline) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: coachbobknight who wrote (1253)	5/10/1999 1:49:00 AM
From: $Mogul	Respond to of 2743

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 7, 1999-- New Patent Covers Company's Unique Airline Ticket Product, Where Airlines or Agents, Not Customers, Pick Flights and Travel Times After Customers Agree to Buy Tickets Pending Patent Portfolio Extends, Broadens Competitive Position for Priceline.com Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN.O), the patented e-commerce system that enables consumers to name their own price for a variety of goods and services, has been awarded U.S. Patent No. 5,897,620 covering the specific type of airline ticket sold through priceline.com's travel services unit. Priceline.com's airline product is unique because it allows airlines, not customers, to select the flights and routing after customers agree to purchase air travel. The new patent is the second issued patent covering priceline.com's business methods. The company's first issued patent, U.S. Patent No. 5,794,207, covers the business methods underlying priceline.com's demand collection system that currently offers "name-your-price" products and services across travel, automotive and personal finance categories. Both business methods were invented by Walker Digital, a Stamford, Conn.-based intellectual property laboratory. As the patents issued, they were assigned to priceline.com as part of a joint licensing arrangement. In all, Walker Digital has applied for 20 U.S. and international patents covering various aspects of priceline.com's businesses. "Patents are a critical element of priceline.com's business strategy as they strengthen and expand our competitive position," said Rick Braddock, priceline.com's chairman and CEO. "Protected intellectual property enables us to establish and maintain our distinctive position in the e-commerce marketplace and gives the company the ability to focus on building its business and brand, and not be as concerned with the competitive copying going on in the e-commerce space. These patents also present priceline.com with the potential opportunity to open up new revenue streams through licensing." Walker Digital also has patents pending for the adaptive marketing programs currently being practiced by priceline.com. Adaptive marketing allows major brands to add "sponsor dollars" to consumer purchase offers for those consumers who agree to accept promotional offer, thus increasing the customer's chances of getting the item they want. Sponsor dollars are currently available for priceline.com purchase offers for leisure airline tickets. Walker Digital has agreed to provide priceline.com broad, permanent, no-cost licenses for the adaptive marketing inventions when the patents issue. "Historically, most patents have focused on narrowly defined technologies and products," said Jay Walker, chairman of Walker Digital and founder and vice chairman of priceline.com. "With recent U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and court affirmations regarding the patentability of business methods, a company now has the ability to protect not only its business products but the actual methods employed in bringing them to market and satisfying customers. This important new recognition of patent protection creates the incentive for exciting and significant innovation in U.S. businesses, and will play a central role in enabling a new generation of businesses to emerge and flourish, both on the Internet and off." About priceline.com Priceline.com is the patented e-commerce system that enables consumers to name their own price for a variety of goods and services. Priceline.com collects consumer demand and the presents it to sellers who can fill as much of that demand as they want at price points determined by buyers. Priceline.com is one of the Internet's truly "virtual" businesses. By taking consumer offers directly to sellers, the company doesn't hold or handle any inventory, and thus has no need for brick-and-mortar warehouses. Priceline.com has three business units: a travel services unit that offers leisure airline tickets and hotel rooms, a personal finance unit that offers home mortgages, refinancing and home equity loans, and an automotive services unit that offers new cars in the New York metro area on a test basis. About Walker Digital Walker Digital Corporation is the world's largest business process laboratory. The company develops and patents innovative information-based solutions for businesses. Walker Digital currently owns more than 250 pending patent applications, and is a leader in the field of business process patents. --30--lp/ny* CONTACT: priceline.com, Stamford Brian Ek, 203/705-3026 brian.ek@priceline.com or Connors Communications, New York Jennifer Carr, 212/807-7500 jcarr@connors.com KEYWORD: CONNECTICUT INDUSTRY KEYWORD: INTERACTIVE/MULTIMEDIA/INTERNET COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED TRAVEL/AIRLINES Today's News On The Net - Business Wire's full file on the Internet with Hyperlinks to your home page. URL: businesswire.com Copyright 1999, Business Wire