Patent ID: 7848963

Claim:
An auction method of determining a successful bidder from a plurality of bidders, the auction method being executed in a server computer connected with a plurality of client computers via a network, each client computer belonging to a respective one of the plurality of bidders, the auction method comprising the steps of: a) transmitting, from the server computer, information on a product to be auctioned to the plurality of client computers via the network; b) setting, in the server computer, a current auction price; c) receiving, in the server computer, information on an acceptable price for the product from each of the plurality of client computers via the network; d) judging, in the server computer, whether the current auction price is equal to or less than the acceptable price received in step c) for each bidder; e) determining, in the server computer, whether the bidder is a bidder who would like to purchase the product when the current auction price of the bidder is equal to or lower than the acceptable price in step d); f) judging, in the server computer, whether a competitive state occurs or not based on a result of step e), the competitive state indicating there are a plurality of bidders who would like to purchase the product; g) in response to a judgment in step f) that the competitive state occurs, increasing, in the server computer, the current auction price and repeating steps d), e) and f) using the increased current auction price as the current auction price; and h) in response to a judgment in step f) that the competitive state does not occur, determining, in the server computer, the remaining bidder as a successful bidder.