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Washington Mutual Patents the Bank Branch

Posted by michael on from the argh dept.

ewhac writes "Okay, so it's not a bank branch per se, but a particular kind of bank branch -- one that has play areas for kids, serves coffee and popcorn, and has kiosks instead of teller windows. Washington Mutual has dubbed this branch design, "Occasio" (a generic Latin word meaning, "favorable opportunity," and which has probably been trademarked). The San Francisco Chronicle reports that it may be the first time the USPTO has awarded a patent for the design of a retail store/presence."

4 of 291 comments (clear)

  1. Physical design by bar-agent · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm actually okay with this one. At least this is a patent on something physical, something that can be built.

    A retail layout is more like a device to increase sales, than a business method is.

    --
    i'd hit it so hard, if you pulled me out you'd be the king of britain [bash.org]
  2. The admit they ripped off the concept by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Interesting
    They're going to find themselves sued for stealing other people's ideas, now that they've patented it. Here's the relevant quote from their site:
    "We took our cues from cutting edge retailers to provide an open, welcoming environment and top-notch customer service to draw customers into the branch and enhance the cross-sell of products and services," says Karen Curtin, the Planning and Franchise Development executive who leads the team responsible for creating and launching Occasio.

    "Department stores long ago adopted the 'shop within a store' concept with Polo shops and Liz Claiborne shops," says Curtin. "We did the same. Our stores have shops of their own -- like a shop for investment products and for home loan products."

    So we have their rep admitting to prior art, stealing the "idea" from Polo and Liz Claiborne (who never bothered to patent it because it really isn't patentable, but now that the USPTO says it is, hey, let the lawyers fight it out)...
  3. Prior Art by jafiwam · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It just so happens that one of my web hosting customers has a very similar layout, and has had it since before August, 2000 when they registered their domain name through me.

    They are a bank, and use electronic tellers (basically an electronic drive thru kiosk) for their tellers, cookies, coffee, lounge areas and toys.

    The financial advisors are still at normal desks.

    Having the money behind a pheumatic tube does not hurt the throughput any, and is a HUGE cost savings on insurance because there is NO MONEY a wood-be robber can grab. It's all in a locked room. Unless they have trained attack ferrets to go through the tubes... a guy with a gun is only going to get what's in the people's wallets.

    The company that was pushing the kiosks came up with the ideas for the layout.

    This bank is definately not the first one doing it, nor were they the first customers of the kiosk company.

    So there is definately prior art...

    Aside from that, the patent is stupid. Someone might make a case for an overall decor style (similar to the Aqua Mac thing, or the iMac format) but the physical placement of furniture and features of the lobby is not something that is inovative and it wasn't new when the patent was filed.

  4. And good luck trying to rob one of these branches! by the-other-bill · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As one of the droids that installs the servers (OS/2, yay!) and teller tower workstations (XP, locked down within an inch of its life) just let me opine that the primary advantage of the new WaMu Occasio branch design is that the money is just about nowhere to be found. You hand over your cash to the teller and it disappears into a slot just like a Reno blackjack dealer. You won't be changing your mind after that. To get your withdrawl money after your transaction with the teller, you amble over to a large vault on the floor, swipe your card, enter your pin and then the cash spits out into your hands. The tellers never have any money!

    We had some clown try to stick up one of the branches here in Seattle and after he finally figured out that there just wasn't any money around to take, all he ever got was some heavy attention from the local constabulary who nabbed him down the road after he tried to hit up some other bank.

    I'm guessing that the "unrobbability" is the pantentable part of all this, but I could be wrong. What do I know -- I don't explain'em, I just install'em. And from a geeks point of view, they are clean designs. And having a safe place to stash the rugrat for ten minutes ain't bad either, lemme tellya!