Appeals Court Recognizes Limits To On Demand Printing Patent

from the reverses-the-decision dept

Two years ago, Ingram and Amazon lost a patent battle concerning an "on demand" printing technique. Ingram had created a system that would let publishers and retailers print books in bulk -- which fits with their distribution business. However, this inventor had been able to get a patent on the idea of a quick printing machine for a single book -- designed mainly to be used within retail stores. While some may question the non-obviousness of such an idea (one that's been talked about for ages), it seems that such a device has little to do with the Ingram and Amazon's efforts... and it appears that an Appeals Court has agreed, overturning the original decision. It's good to see that the court didn't think that just because this guy had a patent on one small area of on-demand book printing, he could somehow claim ownership of the whole concept.