GoDaddy Obtains Customer Support Patent – Domain Name Wire

The patent describes an easier way to authenticate and help customers.

The US Patent and Trademark Office has granted patent number 11,223,617 (pdf) to GoDaddy for a customer support system. The patent is titled Domain name registrar database associating a temporary access code and a user’s Internet-related activity.

Here’s the basic idea:

Someone who uses a website (like GoDaddy.com) needs help. The website provides a temporary access code to the website user which they can use to request assistance. If he gives this access code to the site provider, it acts as an authentication. When the customer support representative uses the passcode, they will display data about what the user was trying to do, such as recent website activity.

It looks like something I have seen on several websites. This is very useful compared to calling a helpline number and authenticating in several ways. My pet peeve is entering my account information into an IVR, only for the account rep to ask for it again.

The patent lists former GoDaddy chief architect Arnold Blinn, former GoDaddy software engineer Mitch Olson, current senior software engineer Jacob Brooks and current director of software development John Kercheval as inventors. The first two inventors now work for LegalShield.

GoDaddy filed for a patent in 2018, and it was granted today.