Amazon Patents Including a String at End of a URL 306
theodp writes "On Tuesday, Amazon search subsidiary A9.com was awarded U.S. patent no. 7,287,042 for 'including a search string at the end of a URL without any special formatting.' In the Summary of the Invention, it's explained that 'a user wishing to search for 'San Francisco Hotels' may do by simply accessing the URL www.domain_name/San Francisco Hotels, where domain_name is a domain name associated with the web site system.' Here's the flowchart that helped cinch the deal."
STOP POSTING NOW! (Score:4, Funny)
My patent (Score:3, Funny)
Re:STOP POSTING NOW! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:My patent (Score:5, Funny)
Search strings? (Score:1, Funny)
Well, Wikipedia didn't find anything at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Including_a_search_string_at_the_end_of_a_URL_without_any_special_formatting [wikipedia.org] so I guess it must be a novel idea. Oh, wait ...
Re:Wha? (Score:2, Funny)
How in the world was this ever even submitted?!
There's SOO much prior art out there on this one, it's utterly laughable.
Oooohh.... I've got an idea: I'll patent anything that starts with http: and ends with
* with apologies to Jon Lovett
Re:Drupal module already doing this? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Wha? (Score:5, Funny)
I think the flowchart makes that obvious.
During the course of the business day, most people will jot down notes about various things discussed during meetings or at informal cubicle conversations or whatever. Usually, these notes are kept for some period of time until they become no longer relevant, at which time they're either thrown out or shredded.
At my office, we throw such notes into little blue bins under our desks. The contents of these bins are then taken by a company who shreds them. In Amazon's case, the contents of the blue bins are apparently sent to the patent office.
So there you have it.
Re:Wha? (Score:5, Funny)
Then I guess if I worked for Amazon they'd be submitting a patent application for "An old newpaper with mustard and grease stains." They'd probably get it too.
Flowcharts (Score:5, Funny)
Watch out (Score:5, Funny)
Karma to burn (Score:3, Funny)
Obviously, I have not licensed him the procedure to apply for the job, so he can not apply without the threat of being sued. Quite naturally, I would only sue if he got hired, and then it would only be to get his job.
Re:STOP POSTING NOW! (Score:4, Funny)
SO FCUK YOU!
Re:I think this patent can be safely ignored (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Patent Filed Date (Score:5, Funny)
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7,287,042.PN.&OS=PN/7,287,042&RS=PN/7,287,042 [uspto.gov]
That's quite a URL. If only they'd licensed a search string at the end of a URL without any special formatting.
Re:I did this in 1996. (Score:2, Funny)