Ninth Anniversary of Amazon 1-Click Injunction 68
theodp writes "Nine years ago Monday, Amazon kicked off the Holiday Season by slapping Barnes and Noble with a court injunction barring BN from using a checkout feature that Amazon said represented illegal copying of its patented 1-Click technology. 'We're pleased that Judge Pechman recognized the innovation underlying our 1-Click feature,' said Jeff Bezos in a press release. But an Appellate Court wasn't quite as impressed with Amazon's innovation. Nor were USPTO Examiners who were asked to take another look at the merits of Amazon's 1-Click patent claims. Still, 1-Click lives on, although Amazon's lawyers are currently fighting two separate rejections by USPTO Examiners, burying USPTO Examiners in paper, and employing canceling-and-refiling tactics that some may find reminiscent of Eddie Haskell's chess end-game strategy. So much for Amazon-led patent reform."
Customer Backlash? (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't imagine I'm the only one who reconsidered Amazon purchases because of things like this.
How much money is at stake? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Customer Backlash? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, I did reconsider Amazon purchases as this went down. But at the end of the day I shop with Amazon for the same reason I shop with WalMart -- I might have philosophical disagreements with the company, but at the end of the day they provide a damned convenient, cheap and effective way of buying what I need/want.
It's the same way I feel about FOSS vs. proprietary software -- I didn't make Linux my primary OS until it met most of my needs. I still use proprietary video drivers because they work best. I run Windows in a virtual machine on the same box because for a few (and increasingly fewer) things there is no practical complete replacement for Corel Draw or Photoshop -- well, you get the idea.
At the end of the day I need to get stuff done. If Amazon does what I need, I set aside my philosophical differences and plunk down my money. Call me a hypocrite.
Re:Customer Backlash? (Score:3, Insightful)
You're a hypocrite. Well, maybe. But you asked me to do it.
Your argument fails because while Walmart may be more convenient than another store, Amazon is no easier than B&N or any number of internet shopping sites. Finding an alternative store is trivial on the internet.
But the one click was all she copywrote (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't know how you could patent a kind of interface, though. Isn't that like patenting a particular way of arranging your furniture? It's definitely not an invention, it's a way of presenting an existing invention, no?
I think that should be copyright territory, like, "Whatever you do, you can't call your system a '1-click' system", instead of what they are saying which is, "You can't use an interface that resembles our '1-click' system or functions in a similar way".
Does that make sense?
This has never made sense to me : (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Customer Backlash? (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes you are. Bezos could be using Amazon's profits to fund Al Qaeda operations for all I care. If the product I want is cheaper than a competitor's, I'll buy from Amazon.
Re:Tim O'Reilly: useful idiot (Score:4, Insightful)
AC was pretty uninformative in his post about Tim O'Reilly's role in this mess. Why not elaborate, or at least provide a link?
What about Obama's role in this mess? Did he vote to deny Amazon's 1-click patent? I think not! Look at what he has done to us, and now he's going to be our president! ;)
But seriously. From a quick search on Google, it looks like Tim O'Reilly initially protested 1-click shopping, but then something changed and he joined with Jeff Bezos to reform patents. At the same time he, perhaps, dropped his stance against 1-click shopping. But if you know something more, or have a good link with an explanation it would be way more informative than simply mentioning a name in passing. Please?
(I gave up moderating this thread to ask for this, figuring that modding your comment down would do no good for anyone, so please show me the info.)
Get back to business, Amazon! (Score:2, Insightful)
If you want to use your useless lawyers to something I would suggest suing some banks and fix so that you can deposit my income from you into a non-American bank account.
Another real problem is that it's expensive to order stuff internationally. Just a button with "Buy this from another country" (So that one can see if it's available from a closer Amazon and maybe possible to pre-order for really cheap shipping) would be great for me and my international customers. I personally often don't care if it takes a month to get some stuff, as long as it's cheap (Like the pirate-flags for $2) and the popular stuff is available from all Amazon shops so just ship from the closest.
It's also a pain for affiliates when someone reads their review of a book, and then buy it in Japanese from the Amazon in Japan and the affiliate gets nothing unless they register there too (which demands knowledge in Japanese).
All of this is more important for Amazon to fix than this stupid patent-fight.