System and method for a law firm to incur separate charges in relation to handling out-of-pocket costs

Abstract

A computerized method and system for the payment of out-of-pocket fees such as patent and trademark fees is disclosed. The patent or trademark fee for a client of a firm is charged against an account maintained by an organization separate from the firm. A charge issued at a workstation at the firm is delivered to a patent or patent and trademark agency, or a foreign associate firm, where it is cashed against an account maintained by the separate organization. The firm bills the client for the fee, along with a service charge, while the separate organization bills the firm for the fee and the service charge. Payment from the client to the firm for the fee and service charge is then sent to the separate organization to cover the firm's bill from the separate organization. A law firm maintains its own account and uses a second account funded with a loan to pay the out-of-pocket costs. According to one or more example embodiments of the inventive subject matter hereof, but not by limitation, there is provided method and apparatus providing for a law firm to arrange to pay a plurality of out-of-pocket costs for one or more clients, and the law firm incurring an obligation to pay a separate charge in relation to each respective out-of-pocket cost to at least in part cover a cost of financing the out-of-pocket costs.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 022,153, filed Dec. 14, 2001; which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08 / 898,377, filed Jul. 22, 1997, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,361; the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates generally to a computerized method and system for the payment of out-of-pocket costs, and more specifically to such a computerized method and system in which a law firm can pay out-of-pocket costs for a client. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] When a patent or trademark application is filed with a patent or trademark agency, such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the filing is accompanied by a fee payable to the patent or trademark agency. This fee covers the agency's cost in reviewing and examining the filing. For example, in the case where the filing is a patent application,...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] According to one or more example embodiments of the inventive subject matter hereof, but not by limitation, there is provided method and apparatus providing for a law firm to arrange to pay a plurality of out-of-po

Problems solved by technology

The limitation to one firm and one patent or patent and trademark agency in FIG. 4 is for purposes of clarity only, however.

However, the firm computer system of FIG. 7 does not include a dedicated workstation 614.

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