Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Amazon 1-Click Patent Shenanigans Continue

Posted by Hemos on from the the-story-never-ends dept.

theodp writes: "SiliconValley.com has a report today on the strange saga of the Amazon.com 1-Click Bounty contest. BountyQuest president Charles Cella is refusing to answer questions on the contest. Tim O'Reilly admits he's not clear how BountyQuest officials researched and judged the entries, but still lashes out against charges of possible shenanigans raised by a contestant who BountyQuest tried to "buy off" with a T-shirt. In the meantime, Jeff Bezos still has no comment on the contest's odd outcome. "

6 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. T-Shirt. by Neon+Spiral+Injector · · Score: 5

    I destroyed Amazon.com's 1-click patent, and all I got was this lousey t-shirt.

  2. A $10,000 prize is chump-change in cost by Seth+Finkelstein · · Score: 5
    Consider this: $10,000, at $250/hour, is one work week for a skilled patent lawyer. Compare this to the amount of money and time Amazon must have spent litigating the patent.

    And how much would a killer prior art be worth to Barnes and Noble?

    Essentially, they offered a prize which is very much peanuts compared to the cost and value of this patent. And not a lot to motivate a professional patent person to take it on (except just for the challenge)

    What they did was to wager that an amateur would not find something that their lawyers hadn't already found. And they could make great publicity out of the offer.
    That's not a bad bet.

  3. Bounty Quest's Timing by thedocwat · · Score: 4
    I find it terribly interesting to look at the timing of this whole thing.

    On March 2, 2001 a company called MCAM issues an analysis on the Amazon 1-click patent. The report makes available several instances of prior art -- exactly the stuff Bounty Quest is looking for.

    A week later, Bounty Quest makes its announcement. There is prior art, but nobody submitted it. (Right) ;-)

    On March 14, 2001 Internetnews.com reports on this whole fiasco and draws into question some of the motives behind Bounty Quest.

  4. Conspiracy Theories? by pieterh · · Score: 4

    A conspiracy theory that suggests that the this story was just a smart way to hide any prior art for the one-click patent is too far fetched. Let's see... first I create a forum and a focus for people to come forward with incriminating evidence, then I try to silence them with a t-shirt. Why would anyone so smart be so stupid? Apply Occam's Razor and take the simplest solution: quite a few people stumbled here, but there is no hidden agenda.

    --
    My blog
  5. SlashDot Description OverBlown by loggia · · Score: 3

    After reading the SlashDot teaser, I found the article actually says absolutely nothing to impinge on BountyQuest's credibility.

    The company actually decided to give partial prizes on the Amazon challenge, even though they were understand absolutely no obligation to do so.

    They have also already given away several $10,000 bounties as promised. The company is legit. That article is lame-o.

  6. Judge for yourself by BountyQuestTeam · · Score: 4
    Hi,

    BountyQuest here.

    We invite the Slashdot community to judge for itself on this one. Here are a few points to consider.

    1) There were no winners in the 1-click contest, but we did receive a lot of great art.

    2) Tim O'Reilly, out of the goodness of his heart, decided to give away $10,000 of his own money, split among some of the best art we received, as a consolation prize.

    3) We posted all of the art for all the world to see on our web site. (Something we were under no obligation to do.)

    4) One hunter who didn't win or get a share of the gracious award is upset.

    We suggest you look at his submission: #25 and see what you think. Is it better than the TV-Remote control submission (#18)? We'd love to hear what you think about it.

    And now, back to reforming the patent system!

    The BountyQuest team