Wants Patent for Selling Business Cards with Domain Names — Go Daddy

Firm files patent application for cross-selling business cards based on registrant information.

The Go Daddy Group, parent firm of domain name registrar GoDaddy, has filed two patent applications related to ordering business cards along with a domain name registration.

U.S. patent applications 12/202919 (pdf) and 12/202956 (pdf) describe a method of using information collected during the domain name registration process to help generate — and cross-sell — business cards for the registrant. These business cards could be offered as printed cards, an electronic file that may be printed, or as an electronic-only business card.

It makes sense to offer business cards to people when they register a domain name. Following all, many people registering a domain are starting a business, and you’ve by now collected their contact information (and now have a URL to put on the card). But I wonder how Go Daddy’s invention compares to other firms that collect information to sell one good and cross-sell another. VistaPrint, one of the masters of cross-selling, often uses client information gained from selling one print or electronic product to sell another to the same client.

The patent applications were filed September 2, 2008 an published today.