The New Sports Economy

U.N. W.I.P.O. published clear international (prior art) search and entirely positive legal opinion on all 21 patent claims.

On July 22, 2010, the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization published a clear international (prior art) search and provided a wholly positive legal opinion on all 21 claims contained within the non-provisional SportsRiskIndex™ patent filing that was made on December 22^nd, 2009. This opinion stated that when considering Novelty, Inventive Step and Industrial Applicability claims 1-21 are patentable.

 

SportsRiskIndex™ allowance of trademark.

On May 31st 2011, CWH received a Notice of Allowance (NOA) letter from the USPTO for its standard character mark ‘SPORTSRISKINDEX’. CWH now has six months from the NOA to file a Statement of Use (SOU) application if the mark is being used in commerce or an Extension Request if the mark is not yet being used. A total of five extension requests may be filed every six months until the SOU is filed.

 

National entry patent filings completed for 44 nations covering more than half the world’s population and nearly 70% of the total global economic output.

Following the successful filing of the non-provisional patent documentation for the SportsRiskIndex™ (apparatus, method and computer program product for calculating a sports-based financial index) with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in December 2009, CWH had 18-30 months to decide which of the 184 Member States ( http://www.wipo.int/members/en/ ) designated  it would purse for national entry filings. By engaging in this process with the U.N. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), CWH initiated the necessary legal protocols and processes required to establish international protection for its invention beyond the bounds of all protections offered by the USPTO. The WIPO is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to developing a balanced and accessible international intellectual property (IP) system, which rewards creativity, stimulates innovation and contributes to economic development while safeguarding the public interest.

After careful examination of all 184 Member States identified in the non-provisional patent, specific nations were identified as possible candidates for national entry patent filings. Regional intellectual property firms with jurisdiction were located and asked to provide cost estimates in order to complete all applicable national entry filings. After multiple quotes (from each jurisdiction) were received in early 2011, CWH turned to inside stakeholders to raise the required monies to retain these IP firms and complete the all national entry filings prior to the June 2011 deadline. CWH was successful in this regard and the SportsRiskIndex™ patent was successfully filed and is now pending in 44 nations (see Appendix A) covering more than half the world’s population and nearly 70% of the total global economic output.

 

New $10,201,480 valuation.

With the SportsRiskIndex™ patent now pending in 44 nations, a GDP-based economic model was constructed to revise the book value of CWH Inc in July 2011. Using a conservative approach and this model, the present valuation of the company now stands at US $10,201,480 or a book value of US $0.8161184 per share. The GDP-based economic model used to compute this valuation can be viewed here: http://thenewsportseconomy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/SRI.Valuation.7.22.11.xlsx

 

Formation of The New Sports Economy™ Institute non-profit to deploy the educational mission.

July 2011 also saw the formation of The New Sports Economy™ Institute (NSEI) – an organizational hub for deploying the educational mission of CWH Inc’s vision to become the global leader of educational, financial and other related services to the sports industry.  NSEI’s mission is to provide finance education using a sports-based curriculum so the public can make better financial decisions. Along with the SportsRiskIndex™, a financial product that will serve all sports-related businesses, CWH Inc’s dual mission can be summarized as follows – Learn Finance Through Sports and Trade Teams Like Stocks. Public and private grant financing available only to 501 (c)(3) non-profit entities will be sought. The non-profit formation documents and initial stock grant to the NSEI can be viewed here:

http://thenewsportseconomy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Filed.Documents.Grant_.7.11.11.zip

 

Publication of Sports Finance curriculum and opening chapters with follow-on chapters published several times a month.

In June and July 2011, work also began on a developing a Sports Finance Curriculum for the New Sports Economy™ Institute (NSEI) to support CWH Inc’s educational mission. The goal of the curriculum is to improve the general public’s understanding of markets, risks and finance using a fun and easy to understand sports-based curriculum. The curriculum will include 10 chapters and 10 topical sections within each chapter. The format for each section will consist of a short video, a brief article and a list of additional resources for learners. As of September 2011, 5 articles for Chapter 1 have been published on TheNewSportsEconomy.com

To view a copy of the sports finance course outline and published chapters, please proceed to: http://thenewsportseconomy.com/learn-finance-through-sports/

 

SRI patent passes formal examination in the Russian Federation

 In late August 2011, CWH Inc. was notified that all 21 claims of the SportsRiskIndex™ patent were found to be legal under Russian law and that the national entry application had passed the formal examination process. It was CWH’s opinion that Russia would be the most difficult of the international filings based upon its understanding of Russian patent law. This is an extremely positive result for the company and now moves the patent application into the substantive examination phase. This next examination phase should take about 1-year to complete.

 

SRI patent prosecution is accelerated at the European Patent Office (39 nations) due to clear U.N. search and positive legal opinion. Results expected in 6-9 months (from August 2011).

In late July 2011, the European Patent Office (EPO) notified our European IP firm with regard to our national entry filing for 39 member states in Europe. The EPO noted that the International Preliminary Report on Patentability (IPRP) issued by the Korean IPO is wholly favourable and indicates that all of the 21 claims currently on file meet the requirements for novelty, inventive step, industrial applicability and unity under the PCT, and ergo the corresponding provisions under the EPC. Based on this note from the EPO, CWH’s European IP counsel advised that no amendments to the initial application are necessary and that accelerated processing of the patent application could be requested at no charge since the Examination, Designation and Excess Claims fees were all paid, and that the claims appear, in principle, to be allowable. On August 9^th 2011, CWH’s European counsel requested accelerated processing of its patent application under the PACE scheme and that the application undergo substantive examination as soon as possible. After a brief investigation, CWH determined that the typical time for substantive examinination at the EPO is 6-9 months and quite often goes directly to allowance (approval) as the first action on a positive IPRP (which CWH already has). Unlike acceleration at the USPTO which involves a completely separate process (costing about $20k) and often derailing the approval, CWH insiders determined that there was no downside risk to this free European accelerated process.

 

Android/iOS SportsFolio™ Manager Development underway.

With more than 550,000 Android activations per day and nearly 1 billion mobile phones in use in China alone, work is underway to develop a mobile trading simulator for the SportsRiskIndex™. It will be deployed, under our trademark, as the SportsFolio™ Manager for Android and iOS (iPhone). From the very start, “trading sports teams like stocks” via handheld smart telephones and devices has been the driving vision of the company. With the rapid spread of mobile phone technology around the world and increasing connectivity to banks, brokerages and the global financial conduits, this becomes more of a reality every passing moment. The Android (and iOS) SportsFolio™ Manager simulators are the first step in bridging the gap between sports fans, sports leagues, institutions and the financial networks of the world. Careful attention is being paid to the user interface design and operation with an eye toward maximum utility, simplicity and intuitive easy-of-use.  The SportsFolio™ Manager simulators will be widely distributed using the Android Market, Amazon.com and the Apple Store. The end-goal is to familiarize the public and institutional users with the product and trading methodology. This will provide an easy pathway from simulated to real-money trading after regulatory approval. You can view related information, screen shots and access the applications (when ready) here:     http://thenewsportseconomy.com/trade-teams-like-stocks/.

 

Critical path to regulatory approval and rollout defined.

With the benefit of prior guidance from the former Chair of the C.F.T.C. (a co-inventor of our SportsRiskIndex™), the legal architect of the C.F.M.A. of 2000 (the current laws governing the futures and options markets) and a high-level discussion with the CEO of a futures exchange that recently travelled the road to product and exchange approval, we laid down the exact plan and process to achieve regulatory approval and begin trading. That document is published here:  http://thenewsportseconomy.com/2011/08/26/global-sports-stock-market/.