Way back around 99, I worked with IP law firm Akin Gump to try for a patent in the area of bridging supplier web sites (like Nike.com per se) with retailer sites (such as footlocker.com) so that anyone looking at a supplier site could be easily linked to a retailer site without the need for the supplier setting up a retailer database, or the retailer having to convince the supplier to link to them... in my ideal world, a trusted accounting firm such as Ernst&Young would run the site and all the suppliers in the world would have a little icon attached to every product page that would link to the E&Y database that in turn linked to a list of retailers search-able by price and distance. On the retailers side all they needed to do was publish their inventory to E&Y as a backup of their existing inventory control system and voila... an internet surfer could look at the Lays website for the flavor potato chips they like and then with one click know the nearest 711 that had it in ...
