IBM Granted "Paper-or-Plastic?" Patent 517
theodp writes "On Tuesday, IBM was granted US Patent No. 7,407,089 for storing a preference for paper or plastic grocery bags on customer cards and displaying a picture of said preference after a card is scanned. The invention, Big Blue explains, eliminates the 'unnecessary inconvenience for both the customer and the cashier' that results when 'Paper or Plastic?' must be asked. The patent claims also cover affixing a cute sticker of a paper or plastic bag to a customer card to indicate packaging preferences. So does this pass the 'significant technical content' test, IBM'ers?"
It should not be about the method (Score:1, Informative)
The idea is not new or innovative. It is likely that there is prior art about capturing of customer preferences on bagging. A simple example is a sticker on the card that indicates their preference. I do not think that the method (using computers, databases, etc) is innovative when the big picture concept is "capture a customers preferences on bagging choice". In general, most any idea that is already well-developed without computers can be redefined as a
"new" method using a computer. I don't think the use of a computer to implement common concepts is a reasonable basis for a patent.
Re:debit or credit (Score:2, Informative)
This is obviously confusing some people.
in the UK we have one card from debit(Maestro) , one for credit (M/c, visa etc)
Other countries (I've found it in Australia) appear to be able to access several accounts from one card
Re:debit or credit (Score:5, Informative)
the reason the merchant prefers debit is because it is a fixed per payment charge for them, but credit card payments are a fraction of the amount charged.
Re:This won't have an effect in Belgium (Score:3, Informative)
In the UK, Marks and Spencers started charging about 5p for a carrier bag. I changed my habits to re-using carrier bags almost instantly. They seem to have stopped that and just give out really posh carrier bags with proper handles and everything. This also works as they look too posh to just stuff with rubbish and throw out.
Re:How about - ATM language pref (Score:5, Informative)
Re:So what is the invention??? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:debit or credit (Score:3, Informative)
um, a debit card can be used like a debit card, or like a credit card.
From a use standpoint, the money still comes out the same.
Re:This won't have an effect in Belgium (Score:4, Informative)
Not all plastic... (Score:4, Informative)
Not all plastic comes from oil. Most forms of biodegradable plastics actually comes from organic substances, normally plant.
That's what makes them biodegradable.