Winner / Loser Patent of the Day

Today’s big winner is also today’s big loser.

U.S. Patent No. 7,478,064, Nacht, “System and process for applying for and obtaining universal multiple mortgage underwriting approvals”

No assignee info is available.

 

 

1. A computer-implemented process for applying for and obtaining universal mortgage lender underwriting approval for an individual, the process comprising:

 

 receiving mortgage approval application data from an end user device, wherein the mortgage approval application data is entered into the end user device by a borrower;

 

 creating a plurality of mortgage approval applications comprising the mortgage approval application data, wherein the plurality of mortgage approval applications are created without intervention from the borrower;

 

 bypassing a lender and forwarding the plurality of mortgage approval applications to a plurality of mortgage underwriting systems, wherein each mortgage underwriting system receives at least one of the plurality of mortgage approval applications;

 

 receiving at least one decision from at least one of the plurality of mortgage underwriting systems, the at least one decision based on the mortgage approval application; and

 

 forwarding the at least one decision to the borrower device, wherein the borrower may then present the at least one decision to at least one lender.

 

 

Tough to believe that claim 1 is tied to a particular machine.  There’s tangential machines (the end user device and the underwriting systems), but those aren’t meaningful limitations.  Funny thing is that the examiner actually did reject some system claims here under 101, arguing they were purely software.  The applicant changed “module” to “module executed on a computer”, and the examiner then changed “module executed on a computer” simply to “processor” in an examiner’s amendment.  Claims allowed.

 

Of course, the irony—and the reason for the loser status—is that the patentee fought for eight years only to see this patent issue in the current financial market.  Probably not too much commercial value here right now.