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13 Nov 2000, India

November 13,2000

Dear Dr E-commerce,

I am from the southern part of India. I admire your site very much. Thanks for your fabulous service.Let me brief why I am writing this mail.

I have found a secured online payment solution for e-commerce. Hackers may fail to break this strategy . It is not a software invention but a very good business model. I also know that business models cannot be patented.

Kindly guide me to the Business Model Marketing or means of accessing top CEOs in the e-commerce field.

V

Dear V:

Firstly, you can patent business models in the USA. Take a look at the patent office web site at http://www.uspto.gov/. That said, there is a lot of controversy over the issue and so this could well change in the near future. Also, of course, the patent will only be applicable in the USA.

In the meantime, you need to decide how you want to sell your idea. Do you want to sell it to e-companies for a fee or do you want to set up your own company offering a payment service based on your idea. A third option would be to follow the open source software concept. That is, you make your system available for free on a web site and then aim to earn an income through consultancy fees in implementing the service. Depending on the complexity of your system, this approach might or might not work. It would probably be an excellent way of making your system a standard - if it's good enough.

If you want to sell your idea to existing businesses for a fee, you will need to do some research. Find companies that seem to be prospective customers (the best way to do this, in my opinion, is to follow the links to businesses in Yahoo), learn more about them from their web sites and approach the appropriate people with your idea.

If you want to set up a business based around your idea, you will, of course, need to establish a company under Indian law and then promote it heavily on the Internet.

For more advice on marketing on the Internet, I suggest you join the i-sales discussion forum (http://www.audettemedia.com/lists/isales/summary.html). You might also contact the appropriate experts on my board of experts page.

Good luck,

Dr. Ecommerce