Patent(s) of the Week (9/1/2009): Two Weather-Based Financial Activity Network Patents Issue to Weather Risk Solutions, Allow Investors to Speculate on Hurricane Strikes
On September 1, 2009, U.S. Patent Nos. 7,584,133 and 7,584,134 issued to Weather Risk Solutions LLC of Palm Beach, Florida. The patents are entitled “Financial Activity Based on Tropical Weather Events” and “Graphical user interface for financial activity concerning tropical weather events” respectively, and they appear protect Weather Risk’s commodity option called Hurricane Risk Landfall Options.
The inventions provide for a financial activity network that allows participants to submit their prediction as to the point of landfall and/or point along the land track of a future strike of a natural event such as a hurricane or tropical cyclone. If their predictions match the observed natural event, the successful, qualifying investors will share in the accumulated pooling of investment funds.
The natural event may be observed by an external objective independent information source whose observations, findings and conclusions are made available to the financial activity. The financial activity can include games of chance, games of skill, property value protection, derivative securities interests and secondary trading of financial assets by participants engaged in the financial activity.