How Online Stores Automatically Block Illegal Alcohol and Tobacco Deliveries
A system that checks if your online order of alcohol or tobacco is legal to deliver at your chosen time based on local laws.
Original patent title: “Method and apparatus for facilitating online purchase of regulated products over a data network”
A system that checks if your online order of alcohol or tobacco is legal to deliver at your chosen time based on local laws. Granted to IpVenture Inc in 2010 with 33 claims and 11 forward citations.
Key facts
Coverage
What does this patent actually cover?
This patent describes a server-side method that acts as a digital gatekeeper for online retail. When a customer selects items like alcohol or tobacco and picks a delivery time, the system cross-references the order against a database of local regulations. If the law in that specific jurisdiction prohibits the delivery of those items at the requested time—such as a 'blue law' preventing Sunday alcohol sales—the system automatically denies the request or notifies the user. It essentially automates the compliance process that would otherwise require manual oversight.
The gap
What does this patent NOT cover?
- Does not cover physical ID verification at the point of delivery.
- Does not cover general age-gating that happens before an order is placed.
- Does not cover non-regulated products like electronics or clothing.
- Does not cover in-store point-of-sale systems that do not involve a data network delivery request.
These exclusions are unique to PatentBrief — derived from the actual claim language, not patent-office boilerplate.
What made this novel
The innovation is shifting the compliance check from the point of purchase to the point of delivery scheduling, effectively turning a static legal rule into a dynamic constraint on the user's checkout experience.
Schematic visualization of the patent's claim structure. Hand-drawn diagrams in progress for each landmark patent.
Where you've seen this
Real-world examples
Instacart delivery scheduling
Drizly alcohol delivery platform
Amazon Fresh age-restricted item checkout
Online grocery store delivery slot selection
Why it matters
The bigger picture
This patent addresses the 'last mile' compliance headache for e-commerce. As states and municipalities have varying, complex laws regarding the sale of age-restricted goods, this technology allows retailers to scale online sales without needing a human to manually check every delivery slot against a local legal calendar.
Filed
November 8, 2006
Granted
September 21, 2010
Market context
Who's building on this
Companies in this space
Major e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Uber Eats, and Instacart have built extensive logistics engines that incorporate these types of regulatory compliance checks. These companies maintain proprietary databases to map thousands of local ordinances to specific delivery zip codes.
Market impact
This patent reflects the early transition of e-commerce from simple shipping to complex, region-aware logistics. It helped standardize the expectation that online retailers are responsible for enforcing local 'blue laws' and time-of-day restrictions, effectively shifting the burden of legal compliance from the consumer to the platform.
Claim 1 — Plain English
What this patent covers
This patent describes a server-side method that acts as a digital gatekeeper for online retail. When a customer selects items like alcohol or tobacco and picks a delivery time, the system cross-references the order against a database of local regulations. If the law in that specific jurisdiction prohibits the delivery of those items at the requested time—such as a 'blue law' preventing Sunday alcohol sales—the system automatically denies the request or notifies the user. It essentially automates the compliance process that would otherwise require manual oversight.
The clever bit
The innovation is shifting the compliance check from the point of purchase to the point of delivery scheduling, effectively turning a static legal rule into a dynamic constraint on the user's checkout experience.
What it does not cover
- Does not cover physical ID verification at the point of delivery.
- Does not cover general age-gating that happens before an order is placed.
- Does not cover non-regulated products like electronics or clothing.
- Does not cover in-store point-of-sale systems that do not involve a data network delivery request.
Patent timeline
Application submitted to the patent office
Application published, typically 18 months after filing
Patent officially issued
PatentBrief Score
Impact Score
Moderate
Citation count
22/40
Moderately cited
Claim breadth
20/20
Very broad protection
Recency
5/20
Granted 10–20 years ago
Assignee scale
0/20
Independent or smaller assigneeassigneeThe entity that owns the patent — usually the inventor's employer or a company.Read more →
PatentBrief Impact Score — based on citation count, claim breadth, recency, and assignee scale. Not a legal assessment.
Heuristic Value Estimate
What this patent might be worth
$23K – $74K
Midpoint $46K · expired or expiring · industry ×1.6
Heuristic only — blends forward/backward citation counts, claim scope, time remaining, litigation history, and CPC-derived industry baseline. Real valuations need a professional appraisal.
The original legal language
Original claims
33 claims as filed with the patent office.
Concepts involved
Citations
Patent lineage
Cite this patent
Mills, J. C., Wijaya, J., Hodge, R. A., Miller, A. K., & Woodward, F. G. (2010). How Online Stores Automatically Block Illegal Alcohol and Tobacco Deliveries (U.S. Patent No. 7,801,772). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/7801772/amazon-recommendations
Auto-generated from the patent record. Double-check author order and the issue date against the official USPTO document before submitting.
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Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What does How Online Stores Automatically Block Illegal Alcohol and Tobacco Deliveries cover?
A system that checks if your online order of alcohol or tobacco is legal to deliver at your chosen time based on local laws.
Who owns patent US 7801772?
IpVenture Inc owns this patent, granted in 2010.
When does this patent expire?
This patent is expected to expire on September 21, 2030, when the invention enters the public domain.
What is patent US 7801772 cited by?
This patent has been cited by 11 later patents that build on its ideas.
What problem does this patent solve?
This patent addresses the 'last mile' compliance headache for e-commerce. As states and municipalities have varying, complex laws regarding the sale of age-restricted goods, this technology allows retailers to scale online sales without needing a human to manually check every delivery slot against a local legal calendar.
What does this patent NOT cover?
Does not cover physical ID verification at the point of delivery.
Patent monitoring