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Pre-1994 Reference to e-Commerce?

Posted by Cliff on from the sci-fi-has-to-have-this-somewhere dept.

pkaral asks: "Does anyone know a reference to ecommerce that predates 1994 (maybe from sci-fi)? I work with a company facing the Bellboy e-Commerce patent claim. It turns out that the patent must be taken seriously, but can be defeated by a pre-1994 description - fiction or not - of an online purchase."

"Requirements:

(1) Description of someone buying/ordering something over a computer network,
(2) buyer gets real-time order confirmation (a salient aspect of the patent), and
(3) the text was published before Dec 17, 1993.

I figure some author, maybe William Gibson, may have written something along these lines. If the Slashdot community knows of a specific reference we could rid the world of this ridiculous patent."

7 of 24 comments (clear)

  1. Uhm... Compuserve? by Magic5Ball · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Circa 1993:
    1) toll-free dial-in at 4800 on 7E1 to get local compuserve dial-in number
    2) sign up for a new account, pay for using Visa/MC
    3) access is granted
    4) 'go epic'
    5) Register Epic Pinball (and other great titles), billed to credit card, download SFX zip file, message sent to messaging account once transaction is successful.

    I'm sure there are other compuserve/prodigy/etc examples that predate this (lexis-nexis comes to mind).

    --
    There are 1.1... kinds of people.
  2. Minitel by ehikory · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Minitel, a nationwide computer network that supports purchases, was deployed in France in 1980.

  3. Maybe a lead, maybe not by SecretAsianMan · · Score: 3, Informative

    Try The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner. It's been a while since I've read it, but I think that it featured a worldwide network where things could be bought.

    --

    Washington, DC: It's like Hollywood for ugly people.

  4. Prior art in trading by sigwinch · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Stocks, bonds, and commodities have long been sold using computers, and real-time confirmation is an essential part of the business. Commodities sales in particular constitute an actual purchase of deliverable physical chattels, and are indistinguishable from modern 'e-commerce'. Ditto for bank transactions that involve currency conversion (which unlike a simple transaction constitute a sale of goods at a profit).

    Frankly, I wouldn't lift a damn finger until the patent holder sued for willful criminal infringement, then I'd rape the individuals involved (not the companies -- if they are gonna personally be idiots, they have to be personally punished) violently with prior art and fraud counterclaims. But then I tend to have a scorched earth approach...

    --

    --
    Kuro5hin.org: where the good times never end. ;-)

  5. This one's far too easy to slam-dunk: by WolfWings · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How about a RPG from 1989?
    ShadowRun, first edition.
    Every transaction you make in that universe is done with a variant on credit cards that are electronically verified over thier version of the internet, and payment confirmed with the same system, before you can even buy a candy bar.

  6. 1981 - Minitel in France by BigJim.fr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Electronic commerce on a mass scale exists since 1981 in France. You could (and still can) order train tickets, clothes or whatever else from a dumb terminal plugged into the telephone network. It was connected (for a time based fee) mostly to services through France Telecom's proprietary gateways. France telecom distributed heavily subsidised terminals in order to ensure dominance of the market.

  7. Easy Sabre by sulli · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As I recall I bought some American Airlines plane tickets on AOL in 1993 via a service they had called Easy Sabre.

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    sulli
    RTFJ.