Microsoft Patents Making A List For Santa

from the but-not-checking-it-twice dept

Thu, Jan 3rd 2008 10:17am — Mike Masnick

theodp writes "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. But making a list for him may now constitute patent infringement. USPTO officials were busy over the holidays wrapping up the paperwork to grant Microsoft its wish for a patent on the Wish List, which was issued to the software giant on New Year's Day." Admittedly, the actual patent goes into a bit more detail than theodp's summary. It involves making a wishlist that goes beyond just a single store, which can include categories rather than just products and which also pulls in additional shopping info. Even with that additional info, it's difficult to see why this is deserving of a patent, as it really just seems to be combining a bunch of things that were easily done before online -- and we had thought that the Patent Office had issued new guidelines, as per the Supreme Court's ruling, to avoid such combinations.

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Filed Under: patents, shopping list, wish list
Companies: microsoft

24 Comments

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Jason Still, 3 Jan 2008 @ 10:44am

well, that sucks...
I have, quite literally, had something like this on the drawing board (on the wall across from my desk) as a feature of a larger web-based product for months. I haven't had the time to work on that project due to other priorities, and I'm guessing now I might was well give up on it. It never occurred to me that something so obvious could/would/should be patented.
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Santa, 3 Jan 2008 @ 10:45am

WTF
WTF. I'm suing.
I've been using this for the last 2000 years.
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Fred Grainger, 3 Jan 2008 @ 10:47am

Micro$oft is out of control
I hope with the flop of Vista, the underhanded blocking of old document formats in Office 2003, and the other crapware that Microsoft is putting out, that the company self destructs. I'm so sick of their greed I am about to become a Apple customer.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jan 2008 @ 10:59am

Re: Micro$oft is out of control
haha.

u think Apple isn't greedy?
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Patent Trolls, 3 Jan 2008 @ 11:03am

Self-protection
I think many of these patents filed by the likes of Apple, IBM, M$ is in response to patent trolls suing for infringement on even the most obvious incremental changes. I feel they file these mainly to protect themselves from predatory lawsuits.

That being said, this patent seems to do the same things as any content aggregation site. Sites like pricegrabber allow you to shop by product or category from multiple sources; and it includes product info., manufacturer data, user reviews, store information, etc. Seems like prior art to me.
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Derrick Hinkle, 3 Jan 2008 @ 11:03am

Apple may be greedy, but at least they give their customers what they want, and give them some respect.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jan 2008 @ 11:16am

Re: WTF
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jan 2008 @ 11:25am

I wonder what this means for sites like mylistwatcher.com
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jan 2008 @ 11:27am

Re: Re: WTF
Nice argument.

Anyway, this is actually the most legit patent idea I've heard in a while. Not that it should be patentable, but compared to the other ones...
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John Duncan Yoyo, 3 Jan 2008 @ 11:28am

Re: WTF
This should have failed on prior art. I have made lists when I was youth referencing which catalog I found something for the Hogfather's benefit.
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Joe, 3 Jan 2008 @ 11:40am

Protection
I agree that it is only a measure that microsoft is taking to prevent another lawsuit. If they don't patent it some other no name company will and then will sue them for using it.
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Bobby Cannon, 3 Jan 2008 @ 12:02pm

Re: Micro$oft is out of control
What makes you think Vista is a flop?
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jan 2008 @ 12:07pm

Re: Re: Micro$oft is out of control
Nobody wanting to use it in an enterprise setting...
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Joe Smith, 3 Jan 2008 @ 12:22pm

Re: Re: Micro$oft is out of control
What makes you think Vista is a flop?

The security measures taken to patch the defective security model in the earlier versions of Windows are an exercise in frustration for the user. That and the minimum two gigs of ram you need to run it.

But if you want something that will really reduce users to screaming frustration you need to try the new versions of Microsoft Office where key functions are hidden behind what appears simply to be a logo.

That said, after the EOLAS farce, I do not blame Microsoft for patenting every possible little detail. Even if the patent is rejected, the application creates a formal record of prior art at the time of filing.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jan 2008 @ 12:37pm

Re:
Another is thethingsiwant.com
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Nobody Important, 3 Jan 2008 @ 1:41pm

Re: Re:
I am sure the EFF will be on this one shortly. I don't think MSFT is the first to have come up with this idea, and certainly is not the first to implement it.
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Josh Jacob, 3 Jan 2008 @ 2:51pm

there's also, wishbin.com
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Tom, 3 Jan 2008 @ 7:07pm

And don't forget
Wow, Wishlist.com has been around for a while, doesn't that count as prior art. Maybe they should have copyrighted the name.

Tom
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Rekrul, 3 Jan 2008 @ 8:16pm

I want to patent the idea of breathing, then everyone will have to pay me if they want to continue living.

What? It's no more stupid than any other of the roughly 2 million idiotic patents companies have filed for recently.
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Ban Software Patents, 31 Jan 2008 @ 4:30pm

This is terrible
So now all we have to do to be technology tycoons is go to law school and file as many software patents as we can? We don't need to write good software anymore? Hurray for software patents. Let's keep ripping off people that actually have to WORK for a living. That's who gets hurt in the end. That's why I'm $2450 poorer and own a bunch of JUNK that doesn't work right or at all.
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marrya, 6 Mar 2008 @ 10:08am

lip stisc
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Jeff, 30 Jun 2008 @ 11:51am

How is WishList.com not prior art?
How is WishList.com not prior art?
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Nov 2010 @ 7:11am

This is a test.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Nov 2010 @ 7:13am

This is another test.
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