Do you habitually type your own URL in the browser, instead of a bookmark or a desktop shortcut?
If that’s how you navigate the Internet, be prepared to open a Minicharge account with GoDaddy first.
These Minicharge accounts are used to submit micropayments – as low as one US cent – to destinations worldwide.
Earlier this year, GoDaddy filed a patent application with the USPTO that – according to the documentation – performs the following functions:
“… by using a means of a terminal or keyboard or other entry device – including output by a visual, audio or extrasensory mechanism – provides the destination URL to the software performing the connection via http protocol to web sites. “
What that means, in plain English, is that it doesn’t matter if you type, point to or speak the target URL of your destination on the Internet – as long as you use a browser, GoDaddy now owns the patent which enables that connection.
Quite often, corporations apply for and obtain patents which seem unrelated to their business. IBM, for example, owns a patent for the quick refill of gas station bathrooms’ flushing water tanks – Intel owns a patent about the isometric creation of waffle stacking, and Xerox owns a patent about an ultra-fine pencil sharpening process.
All these patents are obtained defensively, having in mind that such applications that might exist in the future would increase a company’s worth.
Apparently, GoDaddy plans to enforce its newly obtained patent as early as during the first quarter of 2010. Obviously, with monetization of domain traffic in mind anyone who attempts to visit a URL will automatically be taken to GoDaddy’s portal in order to submit micropayments; thus far, it is unclear if they will give special treatment to domain names registered with GoDaddy.com
