And Then There Was One: Only One One-Click Patent

from the amazon-keeps-the-ring dept

Last year a company sued Amazon.com, claiming that Amazon's infamous one-click patent actually infringed on their own electronic transaction patent. A court has tossed out the suit, leaving Amazon.com as the one true holder of the one-click patent.
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  1. identicon
    discojohnson, 22 Nov 2005 @ 6:47pm

    Am I the only one..

    ..that has 0 trust in the patenting system? How can someone patent this idea? Can I patent shaking twice when a guy goes pee?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Jared Anderson, 22 Nov 2005 @ 7:03pm

    Re: Am I the only one..

    Yea this is crazy,"You cant have 1 click sales on your site cause we patented it."

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    nonuser, 22 Nov 2005 @ 7:22pm

    Re: Am I the only one..

    How about this workaround:

    [See who's a butthead and place my order]

    *click*

    Jeff Bezos is a butthead!

    [Place my order]

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Nov 2005 @ 10:27am

    well...

    granted i think the patent system is faulty for allowing this to be patented, but i think for the most part that amazon.com patented it just so no one can sue them later (though, i guess that didn't work that well). there are plenty of places that you really only need one click to buy (look at the iTunes music store). amazon.com has yet to sue someone for that.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Mike (profile), 23 Nov 2005 @ 10:41am

    Re: well...

    amazon.com has yet to sue someone for that.

    Amazon Sues Barnes & Noble Over One-Click Patent (1999)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    small guy, 23 Nov 2005 @ 5:06pm

    learn correct terminology

    Mike, you are at it again...
    talking about patents and not knowing much about them...
    First, a patent cannot infringe on somebody else's patent: only product can infringe on a patent, so the patent holder can sue for patent infringement.
    There is a procedure called "interference", when two different patent applications claims the same subject matter. But this is all handled by the PTO: they are supposed to determine which patent is valid.
    Second, as much as I hate Amazon.com and their patents myself, believe me, 1-click patent is actually a *good* patent when you compare it to a typical patent issued to e.g. MicroShit...
    Yes, it is a *good* patent, despite all the hysteria. After all, Tim O'Reily issued an apology to Jeff Bezos for calling a boycott on amazon.com when the prior art search bounty failed to produce anything of importance...

    link to this | view in thread ]


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