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Patents The Internet The Almighty Buck

Amazon's Patent-Pending Price Checks 129

Posted by CowboyNeal from the prior-arts dept.
theodp writes "On Thursday, the USPTO revealed that Amazon is back at the patent trough, this time for a System and method for obtaining information relating to an item of commerce using a portable imaging device. Sounds an awful lot like ScoutPal, which drew raves from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, doesn't it?"
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Amazon's Patent-Pending Price Checks More

Amazon's Patent-Pending Price Checks

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  • Say Cheese! (Score:5, Funny)

    by AKAImBatman ( 238306 ) * <akaimbatman AT gmail DOT com> on Friday September 09, 2005 @08:00AM (#13517686) Homepage Journal
    System and method for obtaining information relating to an item of commerce using a portable imaging device.

    So... they took a picture? ;-)

    • Re:Say Cheese! (Score:3, Insightful)

      by plover ( 150551 ) *
      they took a picture?

      No, they used an imaging barcode scanner. Not that you'd see a device like this hanging on a post at your local grocery store or anything, oh, no, they wouldn't have been doing that, violating this patent for the LAST FIFTEEN YEARS!!!

      Oh, wait. The patent is only two years old? Never mind, I must be confused.

      • Re:Say Cheese! (Score:4, Interesting)

        by plover ( 150551 ) * on Friday September 09, 2005 @08:26AM (#13517813) Homepage Journal
        Of course now that I hit submit, I read more of the patent itself. It was submitted two years ago, but was issued yesterday.

        Using an "imaging device" on a handheld PDA to comparison shop for prices is sooooo last millenia. We tested several of them for a "comparison shopping" project (going into a competitor's stores with handhelds and comparing their prices against ours.) We found that the other stores tended to kick out people who were running around scanning merchandise.

        Also, plenty of stores have a "no cameras" policy posted right at the entrance. Forethought ... or defense against PRIOR ART?

        • It's not a patent. It's a patent APPLICATION. It's not enforceable, it probably hasn't even received a response from the USPTO. It was published, that is all.
      • Is there any way to tell if they have a patent in the pipeline for the same device except instead of an imager for reading barcodes it uses a radio frequency scanner to detect the RFID tags and perform the same function?

        And, if not, can I now say, "FIRST ART"?

        BTW, from my scanning of barcodes on DVDs into Delicious Library, sometimes the same title can be given different barcodes for different vendors. Most of my Highlander TV series DVDs were bought at Best Buy and don't match the barcodes on record at Am
        • You can't tell unless the company voluntarily publishes something. The USPTO doesn't publish submitted patents.

          You might be able to say "hey, they got the idea from my /. post" but if you don't have a working device to show them, well, I don't know.

          IANAPA, IANAL, IAJAF/.R

    • Re:Say Cheese! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Alex P Keaton in da ( 882660 ) on Friday September 09, 2005 @08:32AM (#13517839) Homepage
      I want them to patent the entire Amazon shopping experience: Finding 10 things through their site that you want, and seem resonably priced, then getting to the checkout, and realizing that each item is from a different store, with it's own shipping and handling, and then seeing the $55 shipping and handling quote, and abandoning your shopping cart in a rage. Can that be patented?

    • Re:Say Cheese! (Score:3, Insightful)

      by moviepig.com ( 745183 )
      So... they took a picture?

      Unfortunately, from the patent's abstract, that doesn't seem far off the mark.

      It's hard to find a vast difference between Amazon's method and one of those grocery-checkouts where you wield the scanner yourself. The main departure might be that, at the grocery store, you usually already know what you're buying (...though the display tells you anyway). Seems Amazon has "invented" the circumstance where you usually don't know...

  • Next thing... (Score:1, Funny)

    by jmcmunn ( 307798 )

    The next thing you know, Slashdot will patent "the reporting of stories about patents no one cares to hear about on their front page".

    • Re:Next thing... (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "the reporting of stories about patents no one cares to hear about on their front page".

      Yeah, but they will just annoy the patent office as they will have filed for the exact same patent with a slightly different summary a day or two before.
    • Flamebait? What the hell? Look, go down to the purchasing department, get a blank P.O., look up the part number in the Office Depot catalog and requisition yourself a goddamn sense of humor.
    • My fucking god, "whore yourself out to spam havens to give someone else free shit that YOU should be getting because YOU'RE the one who exposed YOUR private info to some asshole slimeball spammer" bullshit for iPod nanos?

      TWO FUCKING DAYS. Don't you jerks ever give it a fucking rest!?

      I shouldn't have removed my rant against such shit so soon. I thought that craze was over. Apparently not.

  • Prior art (Score:3, Interesting)

    by JustNiz ( 692889 ) on Friday September 09, 2005 @08:03AM (#13517706)
    What about those handheld barcode scanners that have been used in stores for ages?

  • CASHIER: "Price check on tomato soup!" (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 09, 2005 @08:05AM (#13517711)
    STOCK BOY: "No problem...I'll just go scan one of the other cans."

    Amazon.com stormtroopers burst from the ceiling tiles and decapitate our poor hero.

    • More specifically... (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      More specifically, a user at the location of the first entity operates a portable imaging device to capture an image of identifying data, such as a barcode, that identifies a selected item. The captured image is then communicated to a server operated by a second entity that is different than the first entity to obtain item information (e.g., price, availability, etc.) associated with the selected item. The item information is communicated back to the portable imaging device for display to the user while th

  • Another example of the overworked Patent Office (Score:3, Insightful)

    by darealpat ( 826858 ) on Friday September 09, 2005 @08:06AM (#13517715) Journal
    Once again those with deep pockets go forth and argue a case for something that has existed under another name or description, but not functionality. I think that is where the Patent Office falls down: the wording of applied patents.

    It is in the practical examples and application of the descriptions that make "prior art." With sufficiently trained researchers (and sufficient numbers of said people... or bots??!!?) these types of applications and patents will be minimised at the door, and eventually even less will be brought in since it will be known that thorough checking will be done.

    • Re:Another example of the overworked Patent Office (Score:4, Interesting)

      by e4g4 ( 533831 ) on Friday September 09, 2005 @08:16AM (#13517760)
      Clearly. Is this not just a barcode scanner with a server connection? DHL, Fedex and UPS all have something like this. As far as I can tell, the only novel thing about this patent is that the "barcode scanner" doesn't have to be a dedicated scanner, just anything with a CCD.

      I agree with darealpat - I wonder how much of the search for "prior art" involves string matching...

      $result = query( "select * from patents where patent_text like '%portable imaging device to capture an image of identifying data%'");
      num_rows($result)==0? issue_patent() : issue_lawsuit();
      • But the main difference is - and yes, it IS nitpicking - is that the patent is for System and method for obtaining information relating to an item of commerce using a portable imaging device. Fedex, DHL, and UPS have a System and method for obtaining and relaying information relating to a shipment using a portable imaging device.
        • That is clear enough, but as a CS person, I personally tend to look at the structure, rather than the context. Thus, what the data being returned is, and who it's being returned to matters not as far as design is concerned. IMHO, this is how system/software patents should work - if someone has a structural idea that's the same as some "prior art" and all they did was change the values of the variable - that patent should not be issued.
      • Imaging device? I haven't RTFPA yet, but it sounds pretty broad.

        How many years ago did someone write a program that would allow you to scan an in-store product using a free CueCat barcode reader attached to your laptop and query Google about it? I wish I could find that link now.
    • It's not (yet) an example of the overworked patent office, as it's just a patent application. I.e., it's not (yet) granted.

    • I keep what's in my pockets from contributing anything to what's in their pockets. I have yet to purchase a single item from Amazon. I don't care about the alleged convenience, because I can usually find what I need for for about the same price or less somewhere else anyway.

  • Important difference (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 09, 2005 @08:08AM (#13517722)
    Between you all get upset, please note that this is an application, as in Amazon drafted it and sent it to the USPTO but they havent looked at it yet. It's not the same as a granted patent.

    You can send in an application for "...a method of wiping your arse comprising the step of utilizing paper in a back and forth rubbing motion" and that application would also be published.
    • The difference being important or not depends entirely on who the topic of conversation is.

      If we're talking about the patent office, yes that difference matters.

      If we're talking about Amazon (which we are) it makes zero difference. From a morality and ethics point of view, applying for and getting something so absurd is the exact same as applying for it and not getting it.

      Next week's Amazon patent - combining 'letters' to form 'words', except phrased in a confusing manner so as to confuse the IQ-of-30 grunt
      • Applying for something absurd is a GOOD THING. The more absurdity we have the better chance we have of bringing down the dmaned patent office and fixing all this crap.

    • You can send in an application for "...a method of wiping your arse comprising the step of utilizing paper in a back and forth rubbing motion" and that application would also be published.

      The difference being that if you're Jeff Bezos, you have the money to resubmit it ten times. Eventually you'll get the one disgruntled guy who just wants to go home early and signs whatever is on his desk.

      And don't tell me it never happens that way, because it does. [oreilly.com]

    • While it is important to note that this is still an *application* it is also important to note that the this is the same patent office that awarded Amazon the patent on the "one click order".
    • I would like to know the last time the USPTO rejected a patent application.

      Specifically, do we know who rejected it and what company he works at now?


    •   You can send in an application for "...a method of wiping your arse comprising the step of utilizing paper in a back and forth rubbing motion" and that application would also be published.

      And today's USPTO would probably grant that patent, as long as the applicant was from a large enough corporation...

    • ...a freakin' patent on rubber bands, baloney sandwiches, or a circular rotary conveyance apparatus (aka "wheel"). I heard a rumor that the PO rejected a patent recently but this is unsubstantiated as yet.

    • Re:Important difference (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      wiping your arse comprising the step of utilizing paper in a back and forth rubbing motion

      One up, one down and one to polish?

    • backwards and forwards? You must be teflon coated!
    • You can send in an application for "...a method of wiping your arse comprising the step of utilizing paper in a back and forth rubbing motion" and that application would also be published.

      We'll let the lawyers decide if that infringes on my uni-directional method, patented in 1994.

  • Sounds like a cool technology (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ReformedExCon ( 897248 ) <reformed.excon@gmail.com> on Friday September 09, 2005 @08:08AM (#13517723)
    I assume it's mostly meant to retrieve data on the current special offers for the particular item. Usually, scanning the barcode will give you price information, even without hitting some "3rd party" database. But if store X has a special on item Y, then it might be worth it to travel across town and buy it from there.

    It seems like the logical evolution of systems like Froogle. Only this one would be much more personal and probably more local, not to mention tied to brick and mortar storefronts rather than online storefronts.

    It does seem awfully like the thing mentioned in the news article for finding used book prices, though. Someone ought to look into that.

  • check out what bad things Amazon has been up to! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Fun and useful information here:

    http://malfeasance.50megs.com/ [50megs.com]

  • Uh-oh! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Netsensei ( 838071 ) on Friday September 09, 2005 @08:19AM (#13517772) Homepage
    1. Post about silly patents applied by Amazon on /.
    2. Get some pro- and contra-patent zealots engage into total battle
    3. ???
    4. Profit!
    • 3. Throw in counter-balanced polearms with razors on one end and sell tickets.

    • Sorry (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Mateo_LeFou ( 859634 )
      I disagree. People have to call attention to this crap over and over again, all the time. Thank god there are lots of us to share the work.

      Some well-funded players have an interest in just outright owning everything [www.cbc.ca]. I think they would very much like for us all to get tired of hearing about it.

  • Just put this sign inside your shop, simple...;-)
    "Mobiles With Bar Code Scanners Not Allowed"
    • You've already got the customer in your store. Are you really going to kick them out and turn them into ex-customers?

      Technology can be used to empower the consumer, or it can be used to empower the vendor. This one seems to help shift the balance back towards the consumer. I think that's a pretty good balance of power.

      • Re:Notice Board (Score:3, Insightful)

        by cdrguru ( 88047 )
        If price is the only thing that is going to keep the customer in the store - and with this kind of device there is a great motivation to shop by price only, then any store is going to lose to Wal-Mart or other no-frills, low-labor-cost outfit.

        So, kicking the shopper (not customer) out of the store is fine - they were not going to buy anything anyway. Not when they find out that the same article is 20% less down the street at Wal-Mart. More information does not equal an empowered consumer. It just pushes

        • Re:Notice Board (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Eslyjah ( 245320 )
          I don't think I understand what you're trying to say. It seems to me that better information does empower the consumer, but that for some political reason you don't like what the consumer might do with that power. In addition, better information for the consumer in a competitive market pushes profits down toward i*K, that is, the interest rate times capital. It limits the profits of all merchants much more than does the status quo.
      • Yes, there are several cases of people being kicked out of stores for using "portable imaging devices" to compare prices.
        Some have been from competing stores, others people looking around for bargains.
        • I've been questionned by security at Walmart once because I took a picture of a Dora table to show my girlfriend at home before I bought it. They caught me on camera! (Of course I have a Sidekick 2, it does look like a camera to start with)

          Amazon is patenting that because of the emergence of megapixel phone camera. As for prior, I know of at least 1 developer who tried to implement just that for the phone I use. But the camera on the phone is not good enough, you need a magnifying glass between the lense
  • Next Slashdot Headline: Amazon Patents Patents, Sues Apple Over Patent Violations

  • Read the claims not the title (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cswinter ( 860605 ) on Friday September 09, 2005 @08:31AM (#13517837)
    The title is broadly descriptive of the technology. The claims, especially the independent claims, tell you what Amazon are actually seeking protection for.

    I also note it is pending, so any criticism of the USPTO should be withheld until it is granted and it can be determined what prior art was considered in examination and what scope of protection (if any) has been granted.

  • Cue Cat anyone? (Score:3, Funny)

    by mrwiggly ( 34597 ) on Friday September 09, 2005 @08:31AM (#13517838)
    Weren't there some stupid dots in the name of this thing?

    C:ue: C:a:t

    Or something???
  • Hey, the shopping carts in the supermarket have this for several years already!
    Oh, I see, Amazon.com is just expecting the patent reform to go through, which makes prior art not relevant, but which just works on a first come, first served basis.

    4 step pla to get quick rich in new patent system:
    1. Wait in front of patent office on Amazon.com lawyer
    2. Steal suitcase with patents from lawyer
    3. Submit Amazon patents as own patents
    4. Sue Amazon=> profit!
    • "Oh, I see, Amazon.com is just expecting the patent reform to go through, which makes prior art not relevant, but which just works on a first come, first served basis. "

      Please, stop this FUD. The proposed patent reform, which has been addressed several times already on slashdot, does not eliminate the need to prove originality. Prior art will still invalidate a patent.

    • That is the most STUPID comment I have read. You obviously don't read the /. articles and comments but merely comment in an attempt to sound funny. The current patent reform on the table would not do away with prior art, it would do away with first to invent in favor of a first to file system. Get it straight before you try to be funny.
      • Ok, an honest question:

        How does going from "First to Invent" to "First to File" not invalidate prior art? Isn't prior art the defense of saying "Hey, you can't patent that! I invented it first?"

  • there must be prior art (Score:2, Insightful)

    by ammoQ ( 454616 )
    I've built a system for a retail shop that enables users to get price, availability information etc. from a server to a hand held device through WLAN. The same device can also be equipped with an GPRS adapter so users could go to another shop to check the prices against their own. This would not require a modification of the software, since the software doesn't care (in fact, does not even know) if the network is WLAN or GPRS.

    So the whole patent boils down to the idea of doing it. There is IMO no technical
  • other posters seem to be quick to jump on the FUD bandwagon re: this one but having read the first ocuple of pages i can summarise it thus:
    • you walk into a shop
    • you scan the barcode (or possibly even the product directly)
    • you send the picture
    • the computer finds out what the product is, and sends you back info. this could indeed be the new specially-for-you discount on amazon.com but it could also be an auto-froogle or even just send you a rating based on user reviews
    • you digest the info and either buy the i
    • this might actually be non obvious for a change

      It wasn't obvious to you, but I think it was pretty obvious to just about anybody who's ever written software for a retail environment.
    • This makes every store in America a brick and mortar storefront for Amazon for anyone with a camera phone. Not to mention everyone's homes and workplaces. Imagine this: You are at a friends house. They give you a glowing recommendation of a book they just read that is sitting on their coffee table. You take out your camera phone and take a picture of the barcode. A second later, pricing information from Amazon comes up, and you can order it right there with your phone. This is really a pretty sweet techno
  • while they're at it, why don't they just fscking patent "having customers" or "profit!"!
  • Customers go to the local book store, ask the clerks there for advice, read a few pages in the samples - and then, using the devices described in the patent application, order online from Amazon.
    IMO this is unfair business against the local store. Granted, some customers do that anyway, but in my eyes it's bad business manners on the side of Amazon to promote such behaviour. I hope someone "invents" a browser extension that allows users to browse through Amazon's website, read the recommendations, reviews a
    • ah you mean something like this site:

      BookFinder4u [bookfinder4u.com]

      You should write up your idea and submit it to the US patent office.

    • Wow, your "hope" is exactly a functional description of BookBurro [bookburro.org]. From the front page:

      Stop Searching
      After you find a book don't search for the lowest price - let your browser do the work for you!

      NEW - Watch the movie (installation & usage)

      When Book Burro senses you are viewing a book, it will add a small panel to the upper right corner.

      Clicking the panel will trigger the agent to go query for prices at other book sites

      It's a pretty cool tool.

      • Ah, yes, that's what I meant.

        Book searching sites like bookfinder4u are not the same kind of beast; in fact, Amazon wants such sites to consider Amazon's stock of book and offer an API for querying their database. A friend of mine made such a system for the Austrian and German market; because it receives a lot of hits, book stores even put effort into making their answers to the seach enigne's requests faster (because the faster the answer, the better the ranking)
    • I submitted this and the idea of optimizing the shipping when searching across sites for a basket of books to http://www.allbookstores.com/ [allbookstores.com] (think thats the name) and they said they may do it. Site design is strangely familiar. ;-)

      Its a good idea and past due.

      Maker to consumer. That's what the Internet is about. Not fat cats in the middle. Chinese junk is marked up 6x in WMT and other places. If ever we solve the shipping logistics and taxing logistics then the price can drop precipitously towards the Chin

  • Prior Art (Score:2, Informative)

    by ajwitte ( 849122 )
    Prior Art: Delicious Library

  • waste of money (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cahiha ( 873942 ) on Friday September 09, 2005 @09:02AM (#13517992)
    So, first people in academia do this. Then, there are several shareware applications, some using bar code readers, some using cell phone cameras. Then a company like ScoutPal figures it out. And finally, Bezos sees it and patents it.

    Well, let them waste their money: that patent is worthless. It's a testament to technological incompetence at Amazon. It is also something that will become a generic features of cell phones anyway.

    Yes, the patent would be a pain to defeat against in court if it ever came to that. But the prior art is clear; in fact, it's better than one-click: one-click was so trivial that nobody had bothered writing it up academically, but this application has been published multiple times.
  • How about a reverse /. effect, in which not one of its subscribers ever uses Amazon? I wonder how much that would effect their servers/business, especially if it got picked up by the popular press. These people need to be stopped. I sure don't order books from them anymore. We could call it Zero Click Ordering, and apply for a patent...
    • Or we could patent the /. effect and sue Amazon if they ever get /.'ed?
    • " How about a reverse /. effect, in which not one of its subscribers ever uses Amazon? "

      I haven't ordered from Amazon in years, and I actively discourage my friends and family from using them.

      Between Bezos' vehement anti-union stance and the patent nonsense, combined with the fact that a very cool local bookstore is closing at the end of the month, I say: fsck 'em.

      re: the anti-union stance. Let's see: Bezos' claim is that "Amazon.com is the 'new' economy and the old rules don't apply." To which I s

  • Land of the lost? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by miffo.swe ( 547642 ) <daniel@hedblom.gmail@com> on Friday September 09, 2005 @09:12AM (#13518046) Homepage Journal
    Is the road to wealth really to just watch sience fiction movies and read SF books and patent every gadget that looks cool? Even if you dont have the faintest idea about how to produce it you can get a patent and you can reap the benefits as soon as someone manages to make a product out of the idea, even if the idea is a century old. Even worse is that if you take an old idea and stick it onto another old idea you magically have a patent, even if you just combined two things like a catalouge and a ordering form in the back pages. I dont see how you could patent that. Still, in the online world you could patent something jsut like that.

    I really honestly cant see how a patent system like this can help the US in the long run. The incentive to produce is substantially lowered and replaced with people who just litigate and patents obvious ideas. Theese people dont contribute a dime to the community since all the money they touch is fictional for a fictional service in a highly abstract market.
    • "Even if you dont have the faintest idea about how to produce it you can get a patent and you can reap the benefits as soon as someone manages to make a product out of the idea, even if the idea is a century old"

      For one, in order to patent an object, you have to document how to create it. In the words of current law, an expert in the field should be able to recreate your invention without undue experimentation.

      And another, patents only last 20 years, so patenting an invention that will not be around for 50
  • > System and method for obtaining information relating to an item of commerce using a portable imaging device.

    So now if you want to browse around a store with those portable imaging devices in your head you will have to pay Amazon for the priviledge!

    What next? An organic pump like system for circulating a nutrient and oxygen transpoting liquid in a living organism

  • How is this different?? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Funny I was checking this [uspto.gov] patent yesterday. Aka ScanZoom [scanzoom.com]. How is this different?
    • Cool. They even advertise checking Amazon for competitive pricing* right up front on the splash (*for books only.)

      OK, so in this one Slashdot article, people have identified at least three prior art patent applications floating around. Will the real patent holder please stand up so we can mock you the least?

  • If Jeff Bezos was Victor Kiam (Score:3, Funny)

    by saddino ( 183491 ) on Friday September 09, 2005 @10:04AM (#13518398)
    "I liked the idea so much, that I stole it!"
  • For one of my previuous employers we hooked up a mobile phone to an RFID reader back in 1997 to do things like this. We also built barcode readers that you connect to mobile phones and provided for example price comparsions of books in stores with online books from Amazon (sic). That was in 1999. We did the same thing with the first camera enabled Nokia phones running on Symbian. Our company were at one point aquired by AirClic, who still sells those readers. There are lots of granted patents that goes

  • Patentsquatting (Score:2, Interesting)

    by porneL ( 674499 )
    Big companies seem to do patent-cybersquatting. They just register whatever they could think of hoping that someone someday will fall under their vague patent.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Broken by Denso's QR code (Score:3, Informative)

    by mattr ( 78516 ) <mattr&telebody,com> on Friday September 09, 2005 @11:31AM (#13519155) Homepage Journal
    I believe this is defeated by Denso's QR Code [denso-wave.com] which was developed in 1997. It is a 2D barcode that is typically scanned by taking a photo with your cellphone or similar handheld device, and pushing a single button. The photo is decoded by the scanner into presumably an URL, and the resulting page is accessed and displayed. Alternatively you can store arbitrary data in it to the size of the symbol, i.e. a serial number or manufacturing date. It was created in 1997 it seems. In Japan it is now common in most phones and is often seen in magazines and on billboards. I don't see how Bezos can help but be embarrassed by this sort of thing. When he started out he used to be a straightforward kind of guy..

    • I can remember looking at and workign with a similar system in the 80's. In fact I looked at using something like this for data back up. This would have turned your laser printer into a backup device. Typically you don't need to reload data - but a 300 DPI printer and 300 DPI scanner would have provided reasonable capacity and at reasonable speeds.

      It has been so long now that I cannot recall what the MB's per sheet would have been. At the time I personally had a 40 MB HDD and that was feasible to back u

  • symbol trumps both (Score:2, Informative)

    by wheatking ( 608436 )
    symbol has patents that faaar precede both Amazon and scoutpal on linking scanners (various kinds including red laser based) and displays with all kinds of wireless technologies including cellphones/wifi/... DUH. back to your corners, you both lose.
  • > System and method for obtaining information relating to an item of commerce using a portable imaging device.

    What, they patented taking pictures of stuff that's for sale?

    I guess eBay is sunk, now.

  • Amazon? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by thebdj ( 768618 ) on Friday September 09, 2005 @12:57PM (#13519956) Journal
    Can someone please point out where besides the original poster we are getting Amazon into this. I have checked through the published application and see nothing that directly references the assignment of this application to Amazon.
  • ... makes any software patent granting and use obsolute acts of fraud.

    This isn't a statement of opinion, but proveable fact.

    And it says a lot about those involved...

  • NeoMedia has sued more than one company for "infringing" on their patents [neom.com] and this patent sounds like the same obvious, but unfortunately patented, idea that NeoMedia is so lawyer-happy over. NeoMedia's patent is for scanning a physical object to retrieve information about that object over the internet. Somehow that is supposed to be different from every single previously existing barcode scanner system because it was across the internet instead of a private network (like your grocery store or department
  • From the "Description of the invention" section:

    In accordance with one aspect, the present invention provides a system and method for allowing consumers to obtain information associated with a particular item, e.g., price, availability, reviews, etc., by the use of a portable imaging device, such as a digital camera, mobile telephone, portable computing device (e.g., PDA), etc., having a component capable of capturing an image. In one exemplary embodiment, a consumer may use the camera of a mobile telephone

  • From the "Description of the invention" section:

    In accordance with one aspect, the present invention provides a system and method for allowing consumers to obtain information associated with a particular item, e.g., price, availability, reviews, etc., by the use of a portable imaging device, such as a digital camera, mobile telephone, portable computing device (e.g., PDA), etc., having a component capable of capturing an image. In one exemplary embodiment, a consumer may use the camera of a mobile telephone

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