When we hear the word innovation, we're enervated
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Amazon keeps its one-click patent
AFTER HAVING A THINK about it for four years, the US Patent and Trademark Office (US PTO) has confirmed Amazon.com's 'one-click' patent.
According to Techflash, its confirmation of the patent will be a bit worrying for many e-businesses. The idea of allowing online shoppers to make purchases with a single click after having previously entered their payment and shipping information is a fairly broad 'invention'.
Now having re-examined the patent, the US PTO is satisfied that amendments to the patent that Amazon made back in 2007 are good enough.
Unfortunately for some online retailers the modified patent is still broad enough to land a 747 on, as it gives Amazon control over the use of online 'shopping carts'.
Amazon has in the past used its 'one-click' patent to sue rival bookseller Barnes & Noble and license the technology to Apple. The patent is scheduled to expire in 2017.
However it is not a done deal yet. The US Supreme Court is expected to rule later this year on the Bilski case, which some believe could have implications for Amazon's 'one-click' patent.
That case revolves around two men who sought to patent a way of hedging risk in commodities trading.
If the Supreme Court decides that they can't patent their "business method" then the 'one-click' patent could be tossed in the dustbin of daft ideas. µ
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without the least explanation or argument? -- Your moniker indicates a financial motive; may be one of the sharks who lure people into filing on trivial notions, and when in any event, the cost of litigation to support the claim is out of their reach.
If SamJ is wrong, it's only because the system is currently gamed by re-patenting the same thing after a tiny change. Otherwise, I bet he's right.
SamJ - You are an idiot.
Try never. Congress will retroactively extend the length of patents years before that, and then will continue to do so indefinitely. There's too many lucrative cash cows expiring in the next few years for Corporate America not to pull the puppet strings.
http://igdmlgd.blogspot.com/2010/03/one-click-patent-reexamination-over.html