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Amazon Releases 1-Click Patent Sequel
theodp writes "Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is seeking a patent for coordinating the delivery of a gift. The invention was bundled with the 1-Click claims in this 1998 EPO filing, but its USPTO filing was allowed to lapse. Amazon refiled with the USPTO in July, 2002--a few months after settling the BN 1-Click lawsuit." Update: 12/13 05:35 GMT by T : Ben Silverman writes "Please note that Shel Kaphan is no longer the CTO of Amazon.com and has not been with the company for over three years. I apologize for any inconvience this has caused Mr. Kaphan and to readers for the error. Mr. Kaphan pointed out my error in an email this evening." (Kaphan is identified as CTO in the linked NY Post story.)
Oh shit--Amazon just patented Christmas.
They should patent how to never make money and stay in business. That's their big secret...
2. Change in customer info privacy policy
And the straw that broke the camel's back...
3. Charging existing customers higher prices than prospective new customers.
3a. After getting caught at (3) once, and apologizing for it, doing it again.
We used to spend quite a few bucks at Amazon. Haven't bought anything there in quite some time. Have no plans to buy there again.
Just read this last night in Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, and it really sums up my attitude:
"As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously."
This was after being offered a patent on the Franklin Stove. He basically gave the technology away. Same with the lightning rod.
M@
Krispy Cream is people
You say that like it's a bad thing. Well, okay, the "derisively" part is, but as for the rest of it
Thomas Jefferson was a liberal. Abraham Lincoln was a liberal. Both Roosevelts were liberals. JFK was a liberal. Bill Clinton -- that's right, the President whose term gave us the longest stretch of peace and prosperity in recent history -- was a liberal. And it's not just Presidents. Benjamin Franklin. Frederick Douglass. Martin Luther King.
I think I'm in pretty good company.
It's time to take back the word "liberal," to make it a term of pride instead of shame. Liberalism is the greatest force for improving the human condition the world has ever known. Conservatism is one of the greatest forces for dragging it down into the much where it's been for most of human history. Which label would you rather wear?
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
Want to do something better than writing a letter to your representatives, or boycotting Amazon?
...AND ALWAYS...
1. LEARN as much as you can about the patent system. Learn how to read patent abstracts, how to file a patent, and how patents are processesed.
2. LEARN about as many bogus claims as you can. LEARN EXACTLY why they are bogus.
3. EXPLAIN it to as many people as you can, as economical as you can, without putting them off...
4. Explain it to someone who can explain it back better than you can.
5. Learn how to explain it so well, that person whom you explained it to will want to explain it to someone else as good as you explained it to them.
6. Explain it to Slashdot
6. Explain the TRUTH, not misconceptions and misinformation littered with fallicies.
MOST OF ALL: Do what this post is trying to do. Try to encourage as many people as you can to learn about the causes they care about, rather than just shouting opinions.
You didn't honestly think that people care about your opinions more than thiers?
"Communism is like having one [local] phone company " - Lenny Bruce
>
> (emphasis mine) Now I don't know about them, but all those years of college physics taught me that unless the wavelength is altered, "invisible" light cannot become "visible," and focusing light doesn't alter its wavelength. Therefore, this patent is impossible to implement, and therefore a waste of cash and ink.
Naw. Infrared light, such as that produced from a CO2 laser, is invisible to the human eye.
So you use a 10W CO2 laser. Believe me, you'll get plenty of light wherever the beam intersects with an opaque surface, and while I'm not convinced that "fascinated" is the right word to use, I can guarantee you that any cats in the vicinity will move very quickly.
(Note: If your cat moves towards the light, you'll need to get a new cat. But think of it as Darwin's way of telling you that you probably needed a new cat anyways.)
Oddly, I wrote the first draft of what became that patent filing at Jeff's behest when I worked at Amazon.com from 1996 to 1997. Can't even recall why I was asked, but following the form of patent applications, I wrote out the ideas. Since I was an employee and not the inventor, I signed over all my rights. I was also under trade secrets restrictions because of my employment agreement.
I always wondered what happened to that patent, and lo and behold, here it is! It's certainly nostagia for me, but I was a pretty naive guy about patents in those days, and I wrote the draft not as a lawyer, but just as a technical guy who understand the mechanisms.
I have a very different opinion of things today, although it was clear at the time I wrote it that what Jeff had come up with was, in fact, unique, original, and significant under the way the law is still interpreted.
Freelance tech journalist for the Economist, MIT Technology Review, Macworld, and others