How Hard Is It To Realize That One-Click Buying Doesn't Deserve A Patent?
from the let-it-go-already dept
For many, many, many years, Amazon's clearly ridiculous one-click patent has been exhibit number one in a patent system gone mad. And yet... the USPTO and Amazon cling to it. After some earlier challenges at the beginning of the last decade went nowhere, in 2005, an actor/blogger dug up some prior art that resulted in the USPTO reconsidering, and finally, the USPTO realized that maybe a patent on single-click buying didn't make sense. But, for some reason, Amazon and Jeff Bezos (who a decade ago was a founder of a project to bust bogus patents) have aggressively fought to keep the patent alive. And so we've now entered the fifth year of the review process, which seems to involve some rather annoyed USPTO patent examiners, who are fed up with what appears to be Amazon simply dumping busywork on the examiners to avoid a final rejection of the patent. So, not only is the one-click patent a great example of how patents that never should have been granted still get granted, but it's also demonstrating the ridiculous lengths to which one must go to invalidate a bad patent.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
Absurd Patents
[ link to this | view in thread ]
is it even really that lucrative
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Amazon's one click is no more deserving of protection than is IBM getting one for taking a ticket with a number to know when to be served. They're both absurd and they both have been done before so prior art will cancel it, provided it makes it to reconsideration.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
When will the pain end . . .
With no disrespect (really), it is painful to read these articles and comments on patents. I don't know much about computers, IT, etc. So, when I read these articles and comments on patents, it is as painful to me as it would be to you (gentle reader) if I wrote an article on how computers work, and described ants traveling through hollow tubes (wires) carrying zeros and ones.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: When will the pain end . . .
Hmm. And yet the USPTO examiners have repeatedly rejected claims in the patent. Are you ignoring that?
A rational person might conclude such was evidence of "nonridiculousness." But, then, we're talking the average techdirt reader, rather than a rational person . . .
When you have no real argument, resort to insults.
With no disrespect (really), it is painful to read these articles and comments on patents. I don't know much about computers, IT, etc. So, when I read these articles and comments on patents, it is as painful to me as it would be to you (gentle reader) if I wrote an article on how computers work, and described ants traveling through hollow tubes (wires) carrying zeros and ones.
Ok. Simple question: do you honestly believe that the process for ordering a product online with a single click is non-obvious and deserving of a monopoly right?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Bogus
Heh. Yeah, *other people's* bogus patents.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Bogus
[ link to this | view in thread ]
re
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: When will the pain end . . .
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Bogus
[ link to this | view in thread ]
shills!!
Quite the opposite, actually. The PTO has become a rubber stamp for infringers. Anyone can cobble together bogus references to initiate a reexam. Yes, even the Patent Office has shills for large corporate infringers like you.
[ link to this | view in thread ]