Patent ID: 7353178

Claim:
A manufacturer's product registration system, comprising: a database system storing Touch Point (TP) and attribute information concerning a plurality of individual units, said TP and attribute information including identifiers for the plurality of individuals units, each identifier associated with a date identifying with a the individual unit was shipped to a specific retailer, a return policy of the specific retailer, and a date identifying when the individual unit was sold to a consumer; means for receiving queries to the database system to track a particular unit through its life cycle, wherein said database utilizes said (TP) and attribute information for processing said queries; means for identifying a particular retailer out of the plurality of retailers that sold the particular unit based on the (TP) and attribute information; means for determining the return policy of the retailer that sold the particular unit; and means for authorizing the return of the particular unit, wherein the authorization is based on the return policy of the retailer that sold the particular unit regardless of the return policy of a retailer that the particular unit is being returned to.