Another Rank Amazon Patent

from the couldn't-wait-any-longer dept

Professional Amazon/Jeff Bezos hater theodp writes "March 2000: Jeff Bezos countered that Amazon has made countless other innovations in Web commerce that it didn't patent, and that have been widely copied. For one example, he pointed to the way that they publish sales rankings. October 2002: Bezos counters that Amazon has made numerous innovations in web commerce that have been widely copied which it didn't patent, such as virtual shopping baskets, sales rankings and customer reviews. June 2006: US Patent No. 7,058,599 - Increases in sales rank as a measure of interest - issued to Amazon.com."
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    shohat, 12 Jun 2006 @ 5:39am

    But ... ermm....

    Music "Charts" , Book rankings ....

    Are.... ummmm like ...Old .... and are um.... like ... use sales rank.... as ... ummm.. measure of interest ...
    and stuff ...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Thomason, 12 Jun 2006 @ 6:06am

    Weeklies, dailies..

    Bezos may've been overlooking that patent app filed in 2001, when he commented in 2000.
    Shohat has some legit inquiries. Seems, for example, that the NY Times Bestseller list was not a real-time measure, and who would've thought of such an upgrade - geniuses in Seattle, natch.
    Here's a tidbit from the patent that spells out the once-secret "formula." The "formula involves dividing the difference between the current ranking value for an item and the largest (worst) ranking value for the item over the course of the past day by the current ranking value for the item."
    Only those of you who complete middle-school may comprehend how this business method achieves its inventive purpose.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.