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Netflix Granted Patent on DVD Subscription Rentals
A few folks noted a new patent showing up
from netflix. They apparently now have a patent on their model of subscribing to rentals- where instead of being charged per disc, you are charged a monthly fee and can keep the rentals indefinitely without late fees. You can patent anything! Get on the bus!
They've also got a patent on not being able to find my DVDs for at least a week and a half after I send them back.
Mike.
Mmmm......sacrelicious.
Very interesting considering Walmart just setup a similar program.
While it may be a BS patent, it's nice to see a large corporation get screwed by a patent for once.
"You worthless post!"
-Shakespeare, 2 Gentlemen of Verona, 1. 1. 147
This canâ(TM)t be good for Walmart. I wonder if Netflix will use this patent to shut down their competing service or if theyâ(TM)ll be âoeniceâ and license it for an obscene amount. People need to start pushing this issue with their representatives before e-mailing, calling, faxing, and talking are all patented.
See the patent PDF here.
/pant pant pant
Imagine if McDonalds had patented the "drive-thru" method of selling. THE PTO FARKING SUCKS I AM GETTING SO TIRED OF THIS CRAP
Why don't I enter a patent for renting or leasing a car for a month?
Sometimes I wonder who it is they hire to work at the USPTO.
This appears to amount to patenting an idea, not an invention or method.
I claim the patent on short articles devoid of detail, royalties must commence immediately.
You can patent anything! Get on the bus!
Better do it fast, before someone patents the bus.
I'll do a patent on duplicate posts! Anyone know of any prior art?
Read reviews of shopping cart software
Does this patent only cover DVD rentals? I'd hate to see a site like gamefly get hurt over this if the patent is broad enough to include all media rentals with the same scheme.
I just patented it.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
"In 1899, Charles Duell, the director of the US Patent Office, suggested that the government close the office because everything that could be invented had been invented."
Consensus is good, but informed dictatorship is better
Heck, my old Anime club used to do that with Fansubs to get around the "no sale or rent" clause. You paid a fee each semester that allowed you to rent N tapes (the N was based off which membership you got), you could keep the tapes as long as you wanted, although you did have to turn them back in at the end of the semester and you could not have more than N tapes out at once. The fees went into blank tapes and shipping from Japan, the fansubbers did the actual translating and timing for free though.
I read the internet for the articles.
I'm a little surprised /. has yet to report on my patent of the knife, fork and spoon, as used in human food delivery.
RTFM; please, I beg you.
Walmart To Buy NetFlix.
They've succeeded in making themselves worth buying, kudos.
-R
Seriously, fuck Wal-Mart for trying to copy someone else's idea and expect to get rich off of it again. I feel about as bad about this as when I was told AOL/Time-Warner lost 90 Billion last year.
I love Netflix for the way they revolutionized my DVD viewing, and will hence-forth be very protective of them.
The USPO become a US legal work creation scheme, there can be no benefit to mankind by granting some of these patents with obvios prior art unless of course the part of mankind you want to benfit happens to be called lawyers.
"Because we are not employing at entry level, offshoring will kill our industry stone dead."
somebody actually beat amazon.com to a patent?!
I bet there's an earthquake occuring somewhere.
Bush is on fire and its not good for my lungs.
I'm going to patent the idea of letting someone I know and trust use something for a short time for no cost, and if they don't give it back in that time, giving them some more time if like them or beating them up if I don't.
I'll call it "lending" or "borrowing"
[SIG] It's like putting a moose in the blender -- a recipe for disaster!
So, I guess that means Netflix is crossed off my list. Does anyone have another DVD rental service to recommend? (assuming that this other company can survive despite the patent.)
I recently heard about GreenCine and they seem interesting. It's $21.95/month, but they have "over 10,000 titles, with an accent on indie, art house, classics, foreign, documentary, anime and Asian cinema."
I sought a second opinion and found this extensive review of DVD rental services at Stark Raving Normal. The guy seemed to like them: "GreenCine is my current favorite DVD rental service. The customer service people have been great, they have the best selection of anime that I have seen from a DVD rental place, lots of cult movies, sci-fi, horror, indie films, foreign cinema, and even a cool little online community of San Francisco movie geeks."
I don't work for GreenCine, but they're probably towards the top of my list at the moment. And, it doesn't hurt either that some of their profits go to film arts organizations.
Alex Bischoff
HTML/CSS coder for hire
Are sites like Xrent DVD and Wanted List treding on IP now?
Here's some more info: Netflix Issued Patent on Subscription Rental Service and complete copy of the patent (PDF). You can also search for patent # 6584450 on the US Patent office website.
Expect Wal-mart to fucking bend Netflix over. I get your "pull for the little man" thing. On the other hand, I'm glad a relatively large company (Netflix) finally pulled this patent crap against a company that's actually going to challenge the patent, as opposed to a mom-and-pop who can't fight back.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
Well, I have to say that it is a non-obvious business practice. Otherwise video stores would have tried it years ago. I'm not sure they should have patented it, but it is definitely a useful implementation. Of course the mailorder/internet thing makes it functional...
I don't think there is anything resembling prior art, and for most of us, it was kindof a WOW! epiphany/paradigm shift thing.
Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
Since this is /., do we love or hate Netflix? Did it just change?
I can never keep up...
You can patent anything! Get on the bus!
Unfortunately I can't because that has already been patented and I'd have to license it from SCO; the inventors of God, the atom and thought.
Patents aren't always good, but maybe this one will help do what patents were intended for, protect businesses that come up with innovative ideas. Hmm... novel idea :)
Hehe, I feel for Blockbuster and WalMart that just started similar programs. Ok, so really I don't have a drop of empathy. Go Netflix - make 'em bleed!
When's the lawsuit against Walmart going to be filed?
I'll put down 7/15/2003.
Proletariat of the world, unite to kill the US Patent Office
In Soviet Russia, I ruled you
Doesn't SCO already has a patent on such a system? It has to be a violation of their IP somewhere!
You rent an item for a set amount of time with a set price.
If you return the item in the time alotted then everything is great. If not you're given a late fee.
It's BRILLIANT!!!!!
Libraries, Movies, Equipment, you all owe me royalties now!!!
I don't get how you can patent a management style or business action. It would be nice if Uncle Sam would start to realize that them there computers on the desk ain't too hard to use. Maybe even somebody can connect one to the internet (of course by paying royalties to Al Gore) and cruise around.
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
The USPTO needs a patent for itself.
What's the patent about?
All our brains are not belong to us.
Bush is on fire and its not good for my lungs.
If any litigation happens because of their patent, I hope netflix wins.. Wal-mart is getting way to fucking big, and we all know how big companies with large amounts of capital like to do to their employees and other competition. As for Blockbuster I hope they go bankrupt, fuck you and your goddamned late fees, oh and this 12 noon video return shit is absolutly wrong... I will never set foot in a Blockbuster (aka BillBuster) again!
Sorry for the rant, but it got to the point where I was paying $20 a month in late fees because blockbuster had this 12pm return policy and generally I do not get up until past 12pm.
Take the yearly fee you pay to Netflix and divide it by number of videos you actually watch. Most people are probably paying $15 to rent a movie. What a great scam! Oh, but you can keep it sitting on your shelf for a month!
Umm, actually he never said that
Technoli
Sure, Netflix provides a new and rather unique system of DVD Rentals, but it isn't really a NEW Idea. There has been years upon years of renting things for a period of time...
Such as Home or Apartment Rentals. Anyone ever rent an apartment before? How about rent (lease) and automobile from a car dealership?
This patent should be destroyed as quickly as possible and whoever passed this patent in the USPTO needs to be hung up by their toes for a few weeks.
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
I'd prefer it if business model patents were of shorter duration. NetFlix is great, but with Walmart trying to muscle in on the action, I'm sure that NetFlix was starting to sweat a bit. This gives NetFlix the time it deserves to profit from its efforts.
Honestly, a start-up like NetFlix deserves to have its business model protected for ~5 years, so that it can get on its feet, establish its brand recognition and not get crushed under the MicrosoftOfRetail, WalMart.
blog |
I'm not sure if this is good or bad. On the one hand, I applaud netflix for protecting a buisness model they invented, or at least they were the first to implement and sink a lot of capital into.
But this gives them a monopoly. If they have the patent on a business, they have the monopoly and can stop everyone else from competeing.
A lot of the eTailers are trying to patent things that in effect would give them a similar monopolistic control over entire ways of doing business (oneClick etc...), these are definatly bad.
So I guess after reasoning this out, it's bad. It gives NetFlix an unfair control over a business model. There will be no competition, and they can raise the price to any level they see fit. So instead of you and me getting a service like this for $5 a month, becuase that's just a little bit more than it costs to make it happen, we will be forced to pay $25 or more becuase no-one is allowed to compete with NetFlix.
BTW: I'm a netflix user and love it. I think the system is great. I'd love some competition to drive the price way down.
M@
Krispy Cream is people
...of the absurd U.S. patent system. And now we here in EU are gonna get something similar. Great indeed.
“Wait for Hurd if you want something real” –Linus
Oh yes, there is hope after all.
The FTD.COM system:
1. Take order.
2. Jam in a second choice for crap nobody wants.
3. Pretend to deliver second choice crap.
4. Deliver the second choice crap the next day.
5. Profit!
Oh yes, no refunds either, but they will gladly deliver more crap you did not want to order as a consolation gift.
Details here (several journal entries cover it).
BTW, the DVD system sounds suspiciously like renting a car with unlimited mileage. Not sure if this counts as "prior art" or not, however the rental patent certainly counts as stupid.
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
Except for the fact that they are probably all going to be sued too. Because they charge a flat monthly fee. Muhuhuhahahahahahha. I've got dibs on a system where I charge a yearly fee.
If we're going to allow Business Methods to be patentable (and that's a seperate conversation) then this is definitely an example of something that ought to be.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
This is typically an example of why process patents and software patents are not worth a dime!! I hire a TV, and that is paied monthly. Does that mean they could patent that also? Why not stop there, why not with anything rented for a monthly period; phones, cars anything!! Read Richard Stallman's Talk on Patents
In New York City a company called "Fetch-a-flick" allows you to order DVDs online. They deliver within an hour, you keep the movie for 3-5 days, put it in the supplied envelope and drop it in a mailbox (or leave it with your doorman). All for 4 bucks each. I'd love to do business with netflix but the last thing I need is another monthly charge, and fetchaflick quenches the impulse renting urge. If you live in Manhattan check 'em out - I highly recommend them. (Caveat: their delivery area isn't huge) Fetchaflick.
No, I don't work for them, I'm just really happy with their services.
This is an oft repeated fallacy.
Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
Maybe the USPTO. DOH!
"Because we are not employing at entry level, offshoring will kill our industry stone dead."
Does that mean I can patent renting DVD's for a limited time and charging late fees?
I didn't really know that business processes could be patented.
Attention /. editors: I have patented weblogs. Please send your royalty payment in the amount of $$1,200,000 to...
Looks like those undead zombies working at the patent office will approve anything!
Damn! (Note to self: improve typing speed)
Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
> Get on the bus!
Please do - paying me, of course, due to my patent on efficient mass transportation of people (for a small fee) via large, uncomfortable vehicle.
Of course, you may think that this can't be patented because the passenger plane was already patented but - get this - *my* new idea is that this form of transportation is ON THE GROUND!
Sorry, I should have posted this under your post to begin with.
Sounds like these DVD guys are not quite as slick as FTD.COM, since you actually got *something resembling what you ordered*, at least for a little while.
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
... (waits for everyone to respond calling me ingnorant...)
but is it even possible / should it even be possible to get a patent for a business model? If so, why hasn't the RIAA patented the process in place for screwing its artist & the general public, while pulling the wool over the eyes of lawmakers? Why hasn't SCO patented the process for going after more-successful companies in order to keep themselves afloat?
Cruising the internet on my TI-99/4A @ a whopping 300 baud!
McDonald's wasn't the first to have a drive through, there would've been prior art. That honor goes to In-n-Out burger, if their own advertising is to be believed.
But yes, they would've been granted a patent if it had been invented in the last 10 years rather than the 1940s.
That patent's already taken. Too late.
SCO has the rights to that one.
Just a thought: if Netflix successfully defends this patent, you will still be paying them if you rent from anyone using their business method.
Trouble making decisions? Just flip for it.
I have new patent.
I recently learned that filling my lungs with air is refreshing and good for relaxation. I should patent this idea of breathing so I can make truck loads of cash off of all the people that breath air.
- Kill Yourself, spare us all! -
I'm going to patent the act of inhaling and exhaling gazes using organic devices.
Proletariat of the world, unite to kill the US Patent Office
In Soviet Russia, I ruled you
World domination by patents: Patent existence... or better yet, patent life... then once (inevitably) approved - declare the entire planet in your debt. Being that some people are poor an could possibly not be able to pay the $234,345,453,343 price per instanciation of this particular patent, you could always accept souls ("Souls excepted here!!!" ... "For everything else, there's your soul"). ...
I should patent that idea
-Digital Extremist
Start a new company and get a patent on it. After all competition is an evil thing.
I'm gonna get a pattent on scratching my balls. If I catch anyone of you infringing on my patent I will sue you for everything you have!!!
NetFlix thought of something that no one else (at least that I am aware of) thought of. They invested a lot of capital in to making this idea work, and just as it starts to get a critical mass, Wal-Mart comes in and tries to run them out of business.
This is precisely why we have patents! To reward innovation.
My other sig is extremely clever...
Actually this doesn't seem like such a bad idea.
The *AA suck, ok, so let's all patent just about anything you can do with anything they produce (don't forget the key phrase "implemented on a computer" to stop people going "huh? that's just a business process").
Then when they try to do anything with anything they produce, they can be sued out of existence.
IMO, there really are no alternatives to the service Netflix can provide. Specfically their ratings and recommendations model. While there are cheaper services, like Wal-Mart and DVD Avenue, Netflix's recommendation system makes them work the extra few dollars a month.
They claim over 13,000 titles (though I suspect disc sets are broken up to get this figure), and I have only personally rated about 1,100. Thats a heck of a lot of titles I haven't been exposed to, and Netflix makes it easier to find stuff that would interest me.
Unless Amazon.com gets into the DVD Rental business, Netflix simply has no competition, in my book.
I think that it's about time to call or write to my congressman, to trash on the USPTO.
Patenting Devices/Physical Things - Acceptable
Patenting Software Processes - Not great, but understandable why there would be interest. Implementation needs to be changed.
Patenting worldly operations - WTF?! Nothing machine is involved here. Wasn't a patent designed to cover an invention?
Software patents suck as they are implemented, but if the software at least exists, is available due to vendor's interest in making their money on selling their implementation rather than raking anyone else over the coals without making a product themselves, I'll live with it. It's part of a machine, functioning code. This complete and utter bullshit about patenting a business practice is an abomination, and makes a mockery of the entire reason that we have a patent system, which is to protect inventors. I do not look upon business transactions as something that would fit this, even if someone 'invented' the idea.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Therefore, business processes should not be patentable. I am glad the EU sees it that way, at least. Let's hope the EU can make the US see the light, though I won't hold my breath...
Worst. Patent. Ever.
Who the hell is the USPTO hiring these days?
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Today I will submit my patent application for a method of bending down on to one knee and tying one's shoe. I'll be sure to include all the variations of knots one can tie, and also methods for re-lacing the shoe should the laces come loose. Then all your base are belong to me.
;-)
1. Patent common sense
2. ??
3. Profit!!
But seriously, business process patents are a strange animal and my shoe-tying patent suffers from a lot of prior art. If no one's done it before, you can patent it, even if it's patently obvious.
So long, and thanks for all the Phish
Less is more !
I've already patented getting on a bus. You owe me a quarter.
GeneralKael -- Slacker Extraordinaire
While this may be used to keep competition down, it will have very little impact on price. If you do the math, netflix is only good for those who watch many movies - and not so useful for those who sit on them. Basically, they won't be able to increase the price much because of this.
I enjoyed netflix for a while. Quite a cool service, the information they store on their site about the movies is invaluable. Not to mention the rental queue, rental history and other interesting data.
I watched more movies for a couple months, but I found it's hard to keep up the pace necessary to get my money's worth over more than a few months.
One thing that always bugged me about their advertising though: Netflix claims "no late fees". So what would you call that $20/month subscription if you sit on three tapes and never watch them?
I'll do a patent on duplicate posts! Anyone know of any prior art?
1) Steal all underpants
2) ????
3) Profit!
I just got a patent for ????
Anyone making any profit, please provide 99% of the proceeds to me. BTW, you can keep the 1% as profit. Thank for shopping with us!
I just filed a patent titled: "System for Insuring Uninterrupted Habitation of Rented Domicile for a Specific Period of Time". My patent application describes a method whereby a person, couple of family can insure uninterrupted habitation of their rented domicile for a mutually agreed upon amount of time. A modified version of this system codifies certain enhancements such as who pays for trash pickup and gardening at the domicile. I believe that my system is sufficently different from Netflix's, as theirs describes a DVD, while mine describes a domicile. (In other words, we both patented the LEASE, just for two different things).
I was just reading the reviews of other sites at Start Raving Normal and the sad thing is, most of these services will dissapear now. I'm pretty sure that's not what the patent system is designed to accomplish.
<ECODE> http://www.urinbiz.com/order/thronepage.html <ECODE>
All patent royalties to be transferred through my paypal account.
Why do half the posts support Netflix, because this gives them the chance to oppose Walmart and Blockbuster? Patenting a business model is a Bad Thing, but it's okay if it could potentially hurt a company you don't like or deem too powerful? The hypocrisy in this offends me. Make up your damn minds -- do you want fair and judicious patents, or do you want to continue to have them used as weapons, as long as you support the one holding them?
Blockbuster just started a program that even their employees say 'is exactly like netflix'.
Notice in the flowchart on the first page of the pdf that a bunch of people linked to there is a box for surcharges if you turn over too many vids.
Oh man, the mods are going to have a 'Redundant' field day with you!
Dear Mr. Taco,
I represent the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and I must insist that you immediately cease and desist your use of the phrase "Get on the bus!", which is patented by my client under US Patent #2032987. I will expect all references to such phrase to be removed from your site by 12:00 AM GMT on June 25, 2003.
Thank you for your cooperation.
I couldn't tell if you were experimenting with poor-man's cryogenics or looking for the orange sherbet.
Patents are supposed to be a reward for disclosing inventions. When the "invention" is perfectly visible, and there's nothing to disclose, patents should not be granted.
I think though not sure that Sears was one of the first companies to put price tags on wares and would never go down in price.
There was no negotiating for pricing take it or leave it. This was quite new and revolutionary at the time.
I wonder if Sears could have patented that idea back then if the patent office was as questionable then as it is today?
Or maybe it was JCPenney...
by combining them with blocking patents. Here's how you do it. Wait until the next campain finance legistlation is in the pipeline, guess how the political parties will try to get around the new legislation, and file blocking patents on those techniques. Imagine the consternation this would cause in the RNC and DNC.
Good catch on the future fees!
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
For a general overview of what constitutes patentability, see Part II of Title 35.
I hereby revoke CmdrTaco's previous statement, "You can patent anything!"
they've got awfully deep pockets and can afford a prolonged fight.
and what if through their public fight, they caused enough outrage through middle (and lower) america to get the politicians to start thinking about PTO change.
maybe everyone should start lobbying their local store manager to get walmart to fight the good fight.
dude. i should patent the act of patenting. that'll show em all. i'll sue microsoft and ibm and amazon and walmart and netflix and sco and all of em. it'll be great.
think there's any prior art? think it matters?
It seems to me long before netflicks blockbuster was selling passes for unliminted game rentals.
Still, even if that's not the case, let me just chime in on how stupid this whole mess is. I mean, what the heck's the point of protecting business methods with patents? If someone comes up with a profitable business model, they're gonna have to share it with the rest of the world to make money off it. Why would they need patent protection to encourage them to do this? More than anything else this crap shows the patent system has ceased being about encouraging the free exchange of ideas, and become a cash cow for bloated robber barrons.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
You know, I think I'm going to patent the male hardon, that way, when all of you have sex (which I'm assuming most of you do, in one way or another), you will all owe me money.
This whole patent thing is getting out of hand, no pun intended.
Alcohol & calculus don't mix. Never drink & derive.
The only inventions made after that point were just improvements or changes to existing inventions. The US would be a lot better off if we had government-sponsored research with the fruits of that research sold or licensed at the cost or slightly above the cost of research.
I'm on a road shaped like a figure eight; I'm going nowhere but I'm guaranteed to be late.
I intend on submitting an application for ....
A method of entering a building by any means of locomotion and providing paper, with pictures made of ink displayed upon it, in exchange for items contained within, but not exclusively contained within, the building.
Can I patent the Rental of DVD's for 28 day or 32 days. This way it is new model that is not a month?
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
Is Netflix going to get into the game rental business?
I just might be willing to forgive them (they still gotta renounce the patent, though).
A witty [sig] proves nothing. --Voltaire
Surely at least ONE of the 12395812340958 mom and pop video stores that have existed since the early '80s has done subscriptions..
Don't drop the soap, Tommy!
I find this *really* disappointing...and rather questionable.
A quote from one of Netflix stockholders mentions:
"For the near term, this provides a way for them to defend against competition."
So now, companies like the ever-wonderful Greencine.com (which I use and love), can no longer legally continue as they have been. Netflix patent will either push them out of business entirely, or they will be dependent on Netflix as a result of the aforementioned patent.
How is this not a monopoly?
Maybe I don't understand something glaringly obvious about the nature of a business monopoly, but it seems to me that this is exactly what Netflix will become. While I think it's obvious to all of us that video rentals have been around for a long time, the 'net is an entirely new medium for distribution. Obviously, charging per-rental via the 'net isn't economical for the consumer *or* the rental company, so a subscription model seems the best route to go. It just seems beyond ridiculous to me to allow a patent like this, though. A subscription model just plays out as common sense, but is it really something that can be patented?
Utterly ridiculous, blatantly obvious, and ultimately pathetic. I'll be especially pissed if it means that Greencine goes away, since it's allowed us to stop patronizing Blockbuster and support a company we actually believe in. I'm not sure what's worse: watching Netflix try to push out the smaller online rental stores or watching Blockbuster essentially decimate mom-n-pop video stores. Looks like i'll have to start trekking out to SE Portland and renting at Movie Madness.
Now, I thought I was reading a simple article about patent laws and dvd rentals. And here I come across this thread of epic mirth. Somehow you have single-handedly crafted a finely-tuned piece fun-joy from what was a rather mundane topic. I just have to page my boss back to the office to see this! Gather round the water cooler old salts and let me spin a comedic yarn I saw this day on Slashdot. DVD rentals and a patent on it being exclusive to Netflix? Well sir, someone set you up the bomb. You have taken that bomb, added Walmart into the mix and exploded laugh-shrapnel into Slashdot proper. I couldn't even scroll down without getting struck in the eye with a piece of your fun-bomb. Mods, mod this man's excursion into the comedy arena as +5 StopItHurts. Here we sit, emotionally spent and basking in the aftermath of your comedic genius. Thank you kind sir, thank you.
DVDHype in Canada (here in Montreal, actually) has the same business model.
I subscribed to them for a while, but they had some systems trouble, and emailed their entire customer base (IN THE TO: FIELD!), about the issues.
I replied (to their entire customer base) with something like "I can't believe you just emailed my email address to all of your customer. Unsubscribe me immediately."
10 or so others followed suit.
I don't miss it.
(-:
S
Pursuent to U. S. Patent #105092830.41b, in which the Patent Owner (hereafter referred to as ME) explicitly describes the process of punching a second party (hereafter referred to as YOU) in the nose really really hard, you may not duplicate any such action once it has been demonstrated. Or we sue you to tears. We mean it. God Bless America.
Yours in Pugilatory Preamble,
ME.
Start reporting them as stollen. ..........How is german bread going to help?
If you start telling people that their DVDs have turned into german bread, they'll think you're mad.
Is it just me, or did Netflix just patent the private online library.
You pay a membership fee. You can only check out only a few 'books' at a time month. To get 'books' that are in high demand, you may have to wait on a waiting list.
Doesn't sound terribly innovative to me.
I'm going to patent the idea of getting lots of stupid patents as a way to be make it rich.
Sure, there's prior art for this "business innovation", but that hasn't mattered to the PTO for a long time now.
David Corbin Promote Freedom - American Liberty Foundation
A law should be passed that explicitly bans patents on "business processes" and "goals". It seems these slip thru because the patent office focuses so much on details that they miss really vague claims in the same patent. We cannot rely on their vigilance, so we need explicit laws.
Table-ized A.I.
To quote Chef from South Park: "Everybody in the pool!"
Has existed in Canada for a long time at the Superstore. You pay $15/20/25 a month and are allowed 1/2/3 out at any one time.
Oh, and how about the library?
Lets open a library, but make people pay by the month. Great idea... get a patent.
Fucking idiots.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
Damn, you're a snide little shit. Actually, I wouldn't expect Walmart to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into a business that can be shut down quickly with a court order. They may license the patent or they may fight it, but ignoring it isn't likely. Especially with the treble damages that would potentially exist for a patent of this profile, as claiming to have not seen the patent isn't an option.
For the exact reasons you claim, netflix is likely to cave, since they DONT want to fight walmart. But once Walmart has large amounts of cash invested in this, they can't walk away from a settlement without committing financial suicide, giving strong leverage to netflix. So expect any action to occur before walmart rolls their operation.
Get it?
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
Sorry, I hold the U.S. patent on "method for boarding a bus". You'll have to pay me for a license first. :-)
Well.. either Walmart is gonna sue and crush them. Or Walmart is gonna buy them.
I've also patented opening the bus window, opening the bus skylight, ripping open a hole in the side of the bus and teleportation from outside the bus to inside the bus.
3) Profit!
You can't patent that. Patents are for technical solutions! Damn it I'd rather live in a world without patents at all, than this kind of madness.
I just signed up for Greencine and found something annoying. Apparently I must have made an error in my credit card information when I signed up, because I got an email notice that it rejected...and now I'm expected to contact them via email to correct that information--and until I do, I'm locked out of the greencine.com website so I can't get in and correct it there.
They'd damn well better have some method of me getting my card number to them that is not in the clear over email if they want to keep my business.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
I've put in my application to patent patenting business plans and other intangibles. Five years from now I will own the world.
In mathematics, one does not understand things, one merely gets used to them.
--VonNeumann
I'm going to patent selling pre-made hamburgers over counters, and through little windows in the sides of buildings to people in cars.
Isin't this like renting a car? When I go on busines s trips, if I don't return it when I said I would, I can just keep it longer without any hassle. And return it when I am finished. Its not monthly though.
Or is this similar to checking into a hotel indefinitely.
Their is NO WAY their is no prior art on this.
Actually, it results in a strictly non-negative number multiplied by itself.
paintball
Mine does THAT as well.
It's only funny until someone gets hurt. Then, it's hilarious.
Last time I tried to get on the bus they demanded the royalty fees before I could even sit down.
.. or algorithms, or software features. Its absurd. Thank God you can't do any of this in the EU, where reason still seems to have a bit of a foothold. Expect all these insane patents ot come back and bite the US in the ass soon.
"... the patent monopoly ... consists in protecting inventors ... against competition for a period long enough to extort from the people a reward enormously in excess of the labor measure of their services, -- in other words, in giving certain people a right of property for a term of years in laws and facts of Nature, and the power to extract tribute from others for the use of this natural wealth, which should be open to all."
- Benjamin Tucker, Instead of a Book, By a Man Too Busy to Write One: A Fragmentary Exposition of Philosophical Anarchism (New York: Tucker, 1893), p. 13.)
My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I likes it!
If Netflix didn't have a reasonable expectation of being able to patent the business method they just developed, would ANYONE have done it at all?
See, you may not like one company having a monopoly over this, but isn't that better than no one doing it in the first place because they knew the second they did Wal-Mart would step in and kill their investment?
And it isn't really a monopoly - it's just control over a particular method of DVD distribution. They still have to be more attractive to the customer than, say, Blockbuster, or just buying the DVD at Best Buy.
paintball
I tried netflix in january of 2002 and it took them two weeks to send me my first dvds. After their one month trial period I decided that they didn't care about me at all and I cancled my service.
On my next break from college in June I decided to take another stab at the online dvd rental market and found dvdbarn.com. With their program I actually recieved my dvds when I was told I was supposed to, plus they let me tell them I sent them back to get more shipped out sooner. So with the dvd barn's plan of getting 3 dvds out I really had 5 out (when they were in transit). PLUS you can have as many dvds with bonous disks out at a time as you want. If you love the extras as much as I do this is a great feature. =]
- Urgo
Belive in Technology and AMAZE yourself. -- RIP ZDTV/TechTV
Sorry, obviously the comments were by Jeff Bezos, not Steve Jobs.
-R
Netflix doesn't do porn, but FlickSmart does and they are about the same as netflix, but Porn Only. Hopefully they will be integrated into netflix rather then getting bought out or go under. Even the wife likes it surprising me with rentals - go give them money everyone. Please? For me?
Sorry, the comments were by Jeff Bezos, not Steve Jobs.
-R
Abolish patents, completely. If anyone has mentioned this, go ahead and mod me redundant.
-Libertarian secular transhumanist
I hate the fact that one can patent something ridiculous like dvd rentals (or the subscription system), but if this means Walmart is going to have more trouble puting netflix out of business, so be it.
It's all fine and good for Netflix to have spent money on this patent if the idea is to keep litigation at bay. You don't want Blockbuster doing the same thing to you...a defensive patent, Bezos called it, I believe.
What I am currently doing is writing a nice little email to Netflix...basically saying that if I so much as smell enforcement of this bullshit patent, I will immediately cancel my subscription to their business.
Because you didn't do it first.
paintball
I vaguely recall something like this in the past. It was called a...libation? No, library. That's it, a LIBRARY. Allthough I think it was cheaper per month, but they did charge late fees. I guess this is why they disappeared:)
Now, I thought I was reading a simple article about patent laws and dvd rentals. And here I come across this thread of epic mirth. Somehow you have single-handedly crafted a finely-tuned piece fun-joy from what was a rather mundane topic. I just have to page my boss back to the office to see this! Gather round the water cooler old salts and let me spin a comedic yarn I saw this day on Slashdot. Someone beating Amazon to the patent office? And the earthquake part? Well sir, someone set you up the bomb. You have taken that bomb, added Amazon.com into the mix and exploded laugh-shrapnel into Slashdot proper. I couldn't even scroll down without getting struck in the eye with a piece of your fun-bomb. Mods, mod this man's excursion into the comedy arena as +5 StopItHurts. Here we sit, emotionally spent and basking in the aftermath of your comedic genius. Thank you kind sir, thank you.
"I feel about as bad about this as when I was told AOL/Time-Warner lost 90 Billion last year"
A corporation is an entity made up of PEOPLE. When companies do badly please realize that the employees are hurt by layoffs, pay cuts, etc. Slashdot readers need to realize this. Companies are not evil. They provide MONEY TO PEOPLE FOR DOING STUFF. That whole trickle down economics thing.. Remember?
I really doubt this will affact Wal-mart much. They will either ignore it and tie up the patent claims in court (hell, they just might win), pay the fees to licence the, um, product? idea? (when you can't even classify the patent, you KNOW it's bad) for what is to Wal-mart pocket change, or buy Netflix. I'm more worried about other DVD rental places, in particular Greencine. OK, so I mostly rent Anime from them, but they also specialize in harder to find films. THEY are the ones that will be crushed by this, either by Netflix or, when Wal-mart accuries the patent, Wal-mart.
Come on, guys. Netflix are competing with a very large and not-so-gentle adversary, Walmart. They (Netflix) have built up a good business providing their clients with exactly what they want. But their business model has turned into a commodity. Patent protection is an unusual way of protecting business processes but if it works, all power to them.
This is one of the better patents I've seen recently - it actually describes true innovation that has been implemented, and actually protects the innovator against competitors who would copy the idea and the model.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
Once again proving porn guides technology. In this case, predating it by a whopping 20 years.
I was just reading the reviews of other sites at Start Raving Normal and the sad thing is, most of these services will dissapear now. I'm pretty sure that's not what the patent system is designed to accomplish.
The patent system is designed to crush innovation and retart economic growth, this is exactly what it was designed to accomplish. The Supremes have nullified the 'for progress' provision that the constitutional committee added to the concept so we're back to the old system where kings granted monopolies to those that funded his wars. Except now anyone immoral enought to apply for a patent can patent anything without even as flawed a concept as a king to keep the economy from being completely destroyed.
Hopefully the plutocrats will soon see that any gain they see from their monopolies will be lost in their constants warring amoungst themselves in the courtrooms. Then they will either tell their governments to fix it or collude to only sue newcomers; if there are few enough of them left by the time they realize the mess they are in that a cartel can be maintained.
You can patent anything! Get on the bus!
Sorry, that statement is an infringement on my patent, number 31337, "A method of Pedestrian embarkment from cement or other hard packed substrate onto rectangular public transit conveyance via the method of foot lifting and leg extension."
Soooo... does this mean Blockbuster has to stop its movie rental pass things?
As I recall, they came out with that after Netflix.
I am filing a patent on all Slashdot posts beginning with a vowel, and i'm making it retroactive to yesterday when i thought of the idea, so, looking down the list it appears that several of you are in violation. I will soon be sending a letter to your ISP stating that you are actively violating copywrite and patent law. I will then sue everyone for their life savings. thank you, that is all
Rice University Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology- "Engineering the freaks of tomorrow"
psxndc
The emacs religion: to be saved, control excess.
Direct Tv and other satellite channels, and cable tv operators have the same models.. Pay monthly fees for a certain channel or you can buy certain blocks of time for a price.
I would like to announce that I have a patent pending on a method of defecating in one's own hand.
So if any of you monkeys need to make a statement, your gonna have to talk to me.
Where would we be if Wheel had hid her round rock in a cave instead of showing everyone how it rolls?
I'm going to patent obesity. :) Then everyone can start paying me out of their own fat asses. (_$_)
In my mind, if you're gonna carry very-soft adult materials ... then do it. Don't change your mind.
NetFlix is just a business. If they stopped carrying adult titles, it's very likely that adult titles were a money-losing item. Perhaps an awfully high percentage of them "disappeared in the mail." NetFlix does put it's customers on the honor system after all. I bet a lot of DVDs that are reported stolen are simply kept.
For whatever it's worth, I've been a NetFlix subscriber since Fall 2002, and I've had very good luck. Fast and correct service, and only a few discs too scratched up to play correctly. I like it.
My God, how can some idiot that doesn't know that the US Postal Service is refered to as the USPS get modded up as funny??? Please /. readers ... reinstill my faith that there are a couple of intelligent people that still mod this site.
*Dear God, if there is a God, correct this obvious act of stupidity*
Actually it would be difficult for the small stores to implement, as they often only have one copy of a particular movie. This thing works best if you have at least some redundancy, otherwise you run the risk of someone checking out your movies permanently when they let their membership lapse. then again, maybe it's not as big a problem as I initially thought.
Frankly I think this would be a good model for real video stores. They don't have to worry about the shipping overhead.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
I hope they can extract a large fee from that evil eminating from Arkansas [*cough cough* Wal-Mart]...and you thought I was going to write "Tyson Foods"...
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
About 4 years ago, a place around here had a pay $20 to rent unlimited DVDs for a month. You could technically keep them as long as you want.
;)
The place went out of business because Blockbuster offered much the same deal (though with a return policy), but offered a much larger selection.
By larger selection, I mean about 40 DVDs.
Since the PDF linked above appears to be slashdotted, you might try here for the full patent. They make some pretty broad claims and the patent appears to cover renting most anything and refers to games specifically.
Why are they "off your list"? Because they have a patent and are now evil?
If you were to boycott every company that has a patent on something, you'd end up living in a cave, catching squirrels for dinner.
hell in a handbasket
why not stifle all kinds of competition and useful business models because some asshole wants to patent a broad and applicable idea.
_+_+__+_+_+_+_+_+_+++
when i moo u moo - just like that
(from the news release)"Netflix allows customers to rent as many DVDs as they want for the monthly fee, with three movies out at a time. Customers can keep the DVDs as long as they like and they are delivered directly to the subscriber's address via first-class mail." Such innovation deserves a patent! Unfortunately, that business method is a couple of centuries old, and still viable today.
In the early days of mass media (books), printing was manual, and books were expensive. And many people of means lived in isolated places. Few could afford to buy as many books as they wanted to read.
To overcome this, "subscription libraries" were developed in the 1700s (one in Newport RI was founded in 1747). They charged an annual subscription fee, which went towards buying books and administrative costs. The city subscriber could stroll over to the library (or send a servant) and get a book to read, keep it for as long as they wanted, and get a new book when they brought back the previous one. Rural subscribers would request books by mail and get the books by mail. Fast readers could read as many as they wanted, with the restriction being that they had to return one to get another. (there may have been a multi-book quota ... I've never had to discuss the administrative details)
How is this different than the NetFlix patent, allowing for advancements in technology allowing online subscribing and electronic payment. Whether it's an annual subscription, or a monthly one, you sign up, you pay, you borrow, you return, you borrow some more.
And subscription libraries still exist today ... The one in Newport is sitll going strong, and I've seen some websites where you can subscribe to get access to their library of books or other non-web information.
Der.. Don't you look like a fool? You forgot to log off and change your id (or post anonymously). Nice way to stick up for yourself, turd.
does SCO know you can do something like this?
With a loose interpretation, this covers libraries, book of the month clubs, and possibly in-store exchanges.
With a stricter interpretation, the idea of implementing this entirely by computer becomes quite novel.
I wonder how Netflix is providing DVDs via computer - AFAIK, they don't offer downloads of them.
Seems like a shipping company with real people would have to be involved at some point.
-- this is not a
The people at the patent office don't seem to be thinking very far ahead, or maybe it's just not their job to think ahead. Imitating the successful business techniques of others is a longstanding tradition in the business world. There's absolutely no historical precedent for treating a marketing method as intellectual property. The huge boom in business in America during the last century would not have happened if entrepreneurs had to stop at every turn to make sure their methods didn't infringe someone's patent. I can't find words to express how utterly and mind-bogglingly stupid this decision was.
The mailing of movies aside, Netflix business model is different from my public library how?
Check out Largest recipe database on the web.
Microsoft should buy Netflix and then prevent Linux users and Apple owners from using it.
Microsoft could use Netflix to profit while adding DRM to prevent evil criminal pirates and thieves from destroying our wonderful economy.
This may also stop the Linux Communists from ruining Capitalism
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
I was renting VHS tapes mail order in 1994. I paid by the tape, not a subscription fee. Call me crazy, but I don't see that as a fundamental difference.
Personally I think that if your business model is to not have competition then your business model is pretty poor. You are not entitled to special privileges just because you have a good idea. If you were then most of us here would be rich. You have to be a good business person, and work, and have connections.
I guess connections in the patent office count though, so goooooaaaaaaaal to netflix.
i don't like my old sig.
This whole patent thing is really getting out of hand.
I had actually toyed with starting a service that does just Anime based on the subscription model. There goes that idea.
My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle...
There is nothing about the NetFlix model that requires a company to be big. I had been thinking that it would be a good model for smaller companies with content to deliver or libraries.
The big draw back for most companies is the items they have to deliver weigh a fair amount, and don't have regular size or weight...creating packing and shipping problems.
The only really unique thing about Netflix is that DVDs are uniform in size and small enough not to incur high postal fees. DVDs being small has nothing to do with any effort on the part of NetFlix.
Drive Thru Patent Approvals!!!
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
I have my doubts about Wal-Mart. This is the same company that sensors all music sold in it's stores and has removed magazines from the shelves because of questionable content.
Hey maybe Wal-Mart could patent censorship?
to wit some simple modifications might be:
1) Pay a monthly subscription fee, based on the number of rentals you wish to have out at once at total for month. This converts it to a cell phone like structure. 2) You may only keep for six months at which point the costumer is charged for the video. 3) And, oh, I don't know, charge a monthly fee to part of a club, not rent the films. for $20 a month you get access to a special members only web site that lets you check movies out of a library.
I also notice that netflix participates in the vile behavior of not letting you browse their site unless you accept their cookie. This is like a car salesperson not talking to you unless 'you are ready to buy.'
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
I just patented Money.
4.2% of your federal reserve note are belong to us.
The whole thing is egregious. Coming up with a novel business only gives you the right to run with it and pull far enough ahead so that you've captured the market share before your competetion comes online. You should be able to patent the idea to crush all competetion. When that happens we the customers lose. What incentive does NetFlix have to refine there service to our advantage if they have absolutely no competition?
My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle...
I believe that it's important to hear all sides to any issue, so here are two Ogg Vorbis encoded recordings of Richard M. Stallman speaking about software patents and a percieved danger that they pose to software development. I know that this story isn't specifically about software patents, but you may find his ideas informative and extensible. (Disclaimer: Verbatim copying and distribution of the entire speech recording are permitted provided this notice is preserved.)
i dgeuni-england2002.ogg Transcript t s-lse2002.ogg
http://audio-video.gnu.org/audio/rms-speech-cambr
http://audio-video.gnu.org/audio/rms-speech-paten
Here is a transcript of a non-recorded speech given by RMS in India also on the issue of software patents.
I hope some of you find these links useful. If anyone knows of any good links taking differing position on the issue of patent law, etc... than I would definitly encourage you to post those.
>You can patent anything! Get on the bus!
I have a patent on getting on the bus.
This is painfully obvious. Many small town video stores have done similar. The village rental where i grew up did this before the days of Blockbuster. The ability to use Fedex on a volume large enough to make a profit is nothing innovative, it just wasn't feasible before the internet. Which part is innovative? The internet part. If netflix created the internet they could patent that. If they created their own propietary protocol sets for netflix they could patent that. If they used premade tools and existing services to put together a form of a virtual storefront, then they're doing nothing unique. The whole point of a patent is (was supposed to be) that you've done something UNIQUE and need protection from people who could afford to reverse engineer your work (like cased ammunition for revolvers). If an obvious concept becomes 'unique and visionary' by adding the words 'on the internet' I think the same should apply to fortune cookie suffix 'in bed.'
Someone needs to patent a few Internet fundraising techniques that apply to political campaigns and PACs. Then we'll see changes in the business patent policy.
I was recently told by my boss that our company's legal dept. wants us to try to patent *anything* that we've created. BTW, I'm a web developer/SA building tools for internal use. The idea is that by patenting stuff that we've written, we protect ourselves from somebody else patenting it and then suing us. We'd win (well, hopefully) because we'd be able to show prior art but it would still be an ugly legal battle. By spending the money up front, we protect ourselves and ensure that if somebody *does* try to sue us, we can show the judge the patent and hopefully wrap things up simply, cheaply, and quickly.
Although we could potentially use the patent to give competitors a hard time, the point would be to protect ourselves and our IP *before* somebody decides to attack us. It's also worth noting that if any of this patent stuff within my company actually looked like it was going to happen I'd be pushing strongly for something in writing basically saying that the patent wouldn't be abused.
It's a shame that anybody would have to go to these extremes just to make sure they can avoid a lawsuit but hey, that's life in the big city.
Rob
Yes but did they patent "10 DVDs for 1 cent **"?
<font size="0.01"> ** Subscriber agrees to purchase 6.023 x 10^23 DVDs at full retail over the next 15 years. Subscriber will receive 6 new DVDs each month from Artisan Entertainment or New Line Cinema. Subscriber may elect to receive only the titles they desire by decrypting the DES3 encoded message supplied on a postcard sent to the subscriber 3 weeks in advance of the DVD shipment. Failure to provide a valid response to the postcard message will be interpreted as a "YES" reply to our excellent selection of all 6 DVDs. Your credit card will be charged for each DVD delivered plus $8.95 shipping and handling for each order. Unopened DVDs may be returned for full credit (less S&H). Each returned DVD is subject to a small $8.95 restocking fee. </font>
Please send me my royalties :)
Agreed. Netflix has an incredible selection, quick turnaround, and reasonable rental fees. The fact that they have a patent changes none of that, yet. Why don't you wait to see if Netflix actually does anything bad with it. Maybe this is purely a way for them to show that they had the idea in 2000, to prevent others from suing them.
I thought Wal-Mart was offering a similar service and was going to try to crush NetFlix. Does this mean they will have to license the idea from NetFlix?
Wasn't it not too long ago that Netflix was the darling of many /.ers? People applauded Netflix for their "innovative" rental model, and I'm sure many felt it was good to "stick it" to the big chains like Blockbuster? When the Walmart announcement came along, weren't people rallying around Netflix? Now, it turns out Netflix is playing the business game the way thousands of other companies are playing it, and now they're evil?
You can have wget on windows, though you'd need a url and not just the file name.
Patent law springs from the constitutional mandate giving Congress the right to "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;" How does this patent Promote Progress and in what usefull art or science?
DVDs with books,
UPS with person across the counter,
web site with card catalog, and
monthly fee with taxes
and I'd call it a farking library!
I would propose that for a given patent claim, that the entity seeking the patent would have to fund a peer group review of the problem the claim is purpoting to solve. If the solution is truly obvious, or prior art, then a competent peer group should come up with something close fairly quickly (as we do here in this forum.) The test wouuld be that if this group could come up with say, six out of ten criteria for the solution described by the claim in, say, six hours, then the claim is obvious, and does not qualify for patent protection.
While I don't think this would work too well for mechanical or chemical patents, it would certainly work for software and business processes.
"Stop whining!" - Arnold, as Mr. Kimble
Why do you hate America? Why do you want to destroy our economy? You stupid little shit, you want people to get hit by a bus yet you expect everyone to believe you love the country?
I hope you get struck by dual lightning strikes asshole.
Here are the rest of your friends:
matbrady@bored.com
matbrady@bored.com
matbrady@bored.com
matbrady@bored.com
The problem isn't as much as what they are patenting, but who can patent something. It costs an arm and a leg to patent an idea. With that in mind, very few individuals can patent any innovative ideas because of the costs. NetFlix's idea is by no means their idea, but instead the first entity that could afford to claim it their idea. That is truely the problem with the patent system. Strikingly similar to the problem with the political system.
So you're OK with a WalMart coming along with all their resources and wiping out NetFlix as soon as they see that a market is there worth taking? Yeesh, so much for innovation!
Are you seriously trying to convince me that these "business method" patents are needed to protect all the small businesses from the Walmarts? How convienent that you forget these "business method" patents give the Walmarts, who can afford the licenses, a nice legal advantage over any competitor who tries to compete.
Heck, Maybe they won't have to lower their prices if this continues. They'll just sue their competition!
It's funny, because the way you word it, it doesn't sound so rediculous, but you're clearly trying to leverage the "protect the little guy" argument.
1. Small businesses have been surviving the Walmarts for years without "business method" patents by innovating their business. Small companies have been surviving mostly because of their nimbleness and ability to innovate. (Which can be credited to their FREEDOM to innovate)
2. Large companies like Walmart can afford to license these "business method" patents, giving the Walmarts another advantage they didn't have before over everyother small company.
3. These patents are beginning to KILL the incentive for small companies to innovate, out of fear they'll be sued for stepping on someone's "business method" patent.
4. The software industry was innovating for YEARS without software patents. The challenge was never coming up with the ideas, but rather actually implementing those ideas.
They software industry thrived as it had plenty of enough incentive to innovate. If a software company didn't innovate fast enough, they would lose to thier competition.
Now it seems all a software company needs to do is to get a nice patent on a key piece of technology and extort licen$e$ out of the rest of the industry.
"Communism is like having one [local] phone company " - Lenny Bruce
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Walmart has licensed the "technology" from NetFlix?
-- You can't idiot-proof anything, because they're always coming out with better idiots.
Hrm, yearly fee. Access to materials. Maybe the government should have gone for a patent with libraries, although then we'd just be stuck in a "See how evil the public sector is, long live the private sector" flame war. Ah, the irony.
"Old man yells at systemd"
Though there are aids, devices, and treatments, it doesn't appear anyone has patented masturbation yet. I'll get busy on the paperwork...
http://drteknikal.blogspot.com/
do not infringe my patent on posting on patents
-- too cruel for schuel
Get on the bus!
Actually, it's a garbage truck, and everybody riding on it smells like they've being doing it for a while.
Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
Utah is strongly morons....
Ahhh... I can't stand these people that are so afraid of sex.
Evolution of Language Through The Ages: 6000 BC : ungh, grrf, booga 2000 AD : grep, awk, sed
So yes, if anyone has an interest in non-mainstream -- definitely check these guys out. Good online community too.
V
I don't think anyone needs to be too hasty. In this business environment, many patents are "defensive" in nature. That is, apply for a patent in case your competitor does it first and pulls the rug from right underneath you. It might be instructive to see what NetFlix does with the patent before deciding whether to punish them.
Now, that's not to say the US patent system doesn't need reform, just that there's a difference between a predatory abuse of a bad system, and a self preservative abuse.
Netflix business method isn't really original. In the 50's I lived in London and belonged to Harrod's lending library. For a monthly fee you could have three books out at a time. The boooks were delivered by the Harrods Van. They came in reusable pasteboard boxes.
When you joined, you were asigned a librarian who got to know your tastes. Every time you returned a book the librarian would pick out another and ship it to you.
Sounds a lot like Netflix to me.
Netflix.com's patent (6,584,450) is surprisingly broad and the claims are NOT limited to DVDs or movies (although some dependant claims provide those limitation).
Hopefully they'll simply use it as a defensive mechanism to prevent others from suing them for patent infringement. But one never knows.
The independent claims read:
1. A method for renting items to customers, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:
receiving one or more item selection criteria that indicates one or more items that a customer desires to rent;
providing to the customer up to a specified number of the one or more items indicated by the one or more item selection criteria; and
in response to receiving any of the items provided to the customer, providing to the customer one or more other items indicated by the one or more item selection criteria, wherein a total current number of items provided to the customer does not exceed the specified number.
and
16. A method for renting items to customers, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:
receiving one or more item selection criteria that indicates one or more items that a customer desires to rent;
providing to the customer up to a specified number of the one or more items indicated by the one or more item selection criteria; and
in response to receiving any of the items provided to the customer, providing to the customer one or more other items indicated by the one or more item selection criteria, wherein a total number of items provided to the customer within a specified period of time does not exceed a specified limit.
Stop undressing me with your eyes. I'm ugly naked.
The Constitution gives patents to encurage inventors by giving them a monopoly on whatever they invent for a period of time, meaning that nobody can copy their idea to compete against them with it. Yes, this means that monopoly pricing power goes to the inventor's company... and that's their reward, but at least it comes with an expiration date.
Netflix says they've built something that nobody has built before. If that claim is true, then they've won the right to a limited-time monopoly fair and square.
Walmart is coming along and trying to duplicate them exactly while undercutting their prices, which would be perfectly legal to do if Netflix's distribution model isn't original. That's exactly what a patent monopoly is there to prevent... the inventor gets to soak the market for a few years as the reward, then competitors may jump in and throw him out.
BTW, this wasn't just a knee-jerk reaction to Walmart coming late to the party... Netflix has had their application in since Y2K, it's just now that the PTO finally stamped "Approved" on it...
It's interesting that your IP lawyers failed to mention that. COUGHjobsecurityCOUGH! Something's in my throat! Excuse me!
Patents are good for countersuits, however, and that's why the preferred business model is moving towards either 1) large companies with tons of products and patents or 2) small companies or individuals with no products (no countersuits there) but plenty of IP and lawyers.
Jack Valenti and the MPAA are to technology as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone
Aren't there Beer-of-the-month clubs that do this? Granted, you're not renting your beer (hopefully) but since what you're really doing with Netflix is buying a temporary license to watch the movie in DVD format (right?) it seems rather similar to buying the temporary license to enjoy your beer.
nuke the moon
When I was in highschool long ago, there was a store near my house that rented software. Back then, the //e and 8088 were still the big guns. Anyways, it was a "club" type of system. You'd pay a monthly fee for some number of rentals per month. They didn't last long...and, I can't remember the name. This was in the Lynnwood, WA area...if anyone else happens to remember.
- Complaining about ludricous software patents.
- Stating anything can be patented in a complaining or joking manner.
- Commiserating with said statements.
By my calculations, the entire editorial staff of Slashdot and 95% of the readerbase are infringing on my patents (prior art being clearly irrelevant.) I have spoken with my legal team and you have all monetarily damaged me to the tune of $1,200,293,135,129,902,129 plus one monster truck. I accept personal checks and PayPal. Pay up, scofflaws.I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
Most of the discussion and argument about this patent has been focused on the idea that subscription services are not new. If you'll read the patent text, or even just the abstract, you'll see that the essence of the patent deals with how you select movies to rent and the fact that this process is separate from the rental process itself. If you've used Netflix, you know what they are talking about. You select movies and add them to your rental list. When you turn in a movie, they automatically send you the next movie from your list. This differs from most other rental schemes in which you select the next item to rent at the time you are renting it, and really is one of the best features of using Netflix. Maybe some other subscription-based rental services do this, but from what I've read in this thread, I haven't seen anyone point out any that do (in particular, any such services that predate Netflix).
Start reporting them as stollen. ..........How is german bread going to help?
Oh, you silly grammer Nazi, you.
Best. Comment. Ever. Enjoy!
You can patent anything! Get on the bus!
Sorry but I noticed that, although everything about a bus is patented, actually getting on it wasn't. So my application's in for that. Don't get on the bus if you don't intend to pay royalties.
OH yea. Believe me. If I wanted to move to your shit-hole country, I would.
This is ridiculous. The US PTO "examiners" are obviously not reading any of the patents, but merely rubber stamping them -- and collecting $2000 on the way. What a frickin' scam.
Furthermore, the whole set-up is geared to assist the litigation industry: Just because a patent is granted doesn't mean it is enforced. A company must defend its patent through litigation against alleged offenders, which means both sides have to hire expensive lawyers. Since many Congressional legislators were trained as lawyers (although not necessarily as patent lawyers), it contributes more money to their industry. That's probably why they won't address the issue seriously.
if you want to be technical, that would be Stollen, as all german nouns are capitalized.
I'm not big on censorship and I'm certainly not a Mormon, but disrespecting the beliefs of other groups by making bad puns is a lazy copout that will do nothing but make them angry and unwilling to listen to what you have to say. The only thing it proves is that you are immature and likely ignorant of why you hold the opinions you have.
The timing on this is no coiencedence. For anyone who doesn't know, both Blockbuster and Walmart have JUST started similar services. For the time being, I suspect NetFlix would have had Walmart beat on service (Given that they had more distribution centers and thus less shipping delay.
I'm really quite torn about this. Obviously this patent is crap and had no buisness being issued, but by the same measure, I'm not so sure I wanted to see Walmart use thier deep pockets to dominate/monopolize yet another industry.
Here's an idea:
Go to imdb and look at the runtime of a movie.
Then compare with the runtime of the blockbuster version.
You obviously haven't seen what a large Walmart can do in a rural town. Look at the studies. A large percentage of the small businesses go down the toilet and often their employees end up at Walmart making less and with less chance of promotion.
BEFORE WALMART, THERE WAS WOOLWORTH
No. I have, but things do get better in the long run. Case and point: look at Woolworth 50 years ago. They were in the same position as Walmart. People were afraid that Woolworth was going to destroy the local retail economy.
Businesses got hit hard when Woolworth came into town and many went out of business. Eventually many businesses figured out what they needed to do to compete, by either creating new markets, adding value or experience, or filling niches ignored by the larger chains.
What if Pizza Hut Patented Pizza Delivery?
Notice I said Pizza Hut rather than Dominos. With all the overhead they had in their restaurants, do you really think Pizza Hut wanted to get into the Delivery business? It was many years AFTER Dominos popularized the business model did Pizza Hut start delivering pizza. So what if Pizza Hut patented pizza delivery? Don't you think such a patent would have given Pizza Hut peice of mind that they didn't have to worry about nimbler pizza delivery companies undercutting the overhead of thier restaurants?
Here's what I want you to ask yourself:
Do you really think the retail industry would have recovered like it did if businesses weren't free to innovate?
Imagine what would have happened if the industry was hampered with "business method" patents like:
* Using a Barcoding System in a Business Model
* Using Securities Cameras in a Business Model
* Using an Inventory Tracking System in a Business Model
Note the difference between being granted a patent for making a specific barcoding technology (a reason for different barcode standards) and being granted a patent for using a barcoding system in a retail context.
As if Mom-and-Pop stores don't have enough overhead, you're telling me that they should either be paying licen$e fee$ to innovate their business or invest thousands of dollars in legal fees so they can get a small peice of the "business method" patent pie?
BUSINESS PATENTS ARE BAD FOR SMALL BUSINESS. PERIOD.
"Communism is like having one [local] phone company " - Lenny Bruce
----------
Together, we will drive the rats from the tundra.
$20 gets you (up to) 20 movies a month. You can only have 3 out, and you have to mail each one in (like you do w/Netflix), so obviously there's no way you can really watch that many. At the end of each month, your credit *vanishes*. It does NOT roll over to the next month.
Would this model conflict w/the patent? There is no subscription rental, but rather a fixed price per DVD rential. Functionally, however, it would be the same.
Oh, I don't get me started on religions...
Evolution of Language Through The Ages: 6000 BC : ungh, grrf, booga 2000 AD : grep, awk, sed
I was an early adopter of NetFlix and then gave up on them when it was taking 2 weeks to turn around DVDs. Joined back up again a few months ago and service has improved a bit. I joing WallyWorld's service as soon as I heard about it. I was shocked at how badly their service sucks. 9 freaking mailing days (Mon-Sat) to get my first DVD after signing up. Then I put them head to head against Netflix, mailing back DVDs on the same day from the same mailbacks. Netflix beat WalMart by 2 days on the first try and 4 days on the second. They didn't get a 3rd. I cancelled the WalMart service.
We'll be paying "royalties" on the "method" our bodies use to carry out their various bodily functions. Imaging getting 10 cents per person per breathe!
That's good to hear... I won't get you started on religions either since it's pretty clear you wouldn't bring any more to the table than overheated, less than half thought out ranting.
Firstly, I am located in Little Rock and the nearest Netflix distribution center was in Houston. Walmart has a distribution center about 4 hours away in Bentonville. Walmart is also the master of distribution and has facilities all over the world. I was finding that even though I would receive a DVD from Netflix and return it the next day, I was only receiving about 3-4 movies a week at most due to shipping delays. I am hoping to improve on that by subscribing to Walmart's service.
Secondly, there is a minimal price difference. For approximately $2.00 a month I could keep out a 4th DVD on loan over the price of a 3 disc Netflix account. Assuming that I will be able to receive them quicker, I should get 5-6 a week from Walmart. So instead of getting 12-15 a month from Netflix, I should get 20-25 a month from Walmart for only $2.00 a month more. Of course, my turn-around time on these must be swift to achieve this goal. In comparing the delivery, Walmart uses the exact same envelopes to mail as Netflix. Where Netflix uses a coated paper sleeve, Walmart is using a clear plastic sleeve. The queue on your account screen is nearly identical and in fact uses the same terms for how long a wait you'll have to get that hot new DVD (now, short wait, long wait). Movie selection is not as good on Walmart's site. For instance I was looking for the movies Alien, Aliens and Aliens3. These are nowhere to be found on Walmart's site. All you get is some cheapo alien movies from their bargain bin.
In reality, the sites, delivery methods, and rental agreements are nearly identical. I believe that Walmart has a problem. And for them to be quoted as saying they were unaware of any patent pending from Netflix, well it is either stupidity on their part not to have checked it out or a case of who cares we will bury them in red tape if they sue.
Really this is not a case of someone coming out of the woodwork like the Ebay case, but rather a first to market, successful firm patenting their business model. Nothing wrong with that and Walmart is probably scrambling in Bentonville trying to figure out what they are going to do.
I'm going to patent the rental process by which users rent a DVD at no charge but must return it within 48 hours from the time they placed their order or face a $3.99 per day late fee. All orders will be shipped out via Pony Express from a warehouse in central Africa. All shipments leaving the continent will go by sail-less raft.
I think it could make money!
Well, that's my definition on religon (in some sense). Last comment from me on this topic.
Let's talk about lawyers instead, I love them to!
Evolution of Language Through The Ages: 6000 BC : ungh, grrf, booga 2000 AD : grep, awk, sed
Does this patent apply only to online rental stores or does it apply to brick and mortar stores too?
Corporations are communist states, on a small scale. Stalin and Ford had a lot in common. People are just cogs.
s g0 0228.html
Trickle down? That voodoo economics theory that does not work and greatly widens the gap between the rich and the poor? Yeah, I remember it.
It's not anti-capitalist to want these corporate machines taken down, in itself. I want that. I want them replaced by other capitolist structures that actually benefit all the people in a company, not just the 'top dogs' there.
http://csf.colorado.edu/archive/2002/coop-bus/m
For what it's worth, I've been contacted by their customer service dept now and they reset my account so I could re-enter my card info. We'll see what happens now.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Most of these comments are way off-topic. Whether or not this is a good method of distributing DVDs is not the issue, nor is whether anyone should anyone for movies at all, or how good various companies are at delivering on what they promise.
The real issue is that however good this business model is or isn't, there is absolutely nothing that is technically innovative about it. It is a simple billing model -- something that is explicitly not patentable.
This doesnt' even call for congressional action. Firing half of the patent department for technical incompetence and failure to read the laws they are supposed to be enforcing would be more appropriate.
I'll PATENT SEX!!! NO SEX FOR ANY of you until you pay a fee!!! BWAHAHAHA!!!
-You know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France? Royale with cheese. You know why they call it that?
-Uhh, because of the metric system?
-You're one smart motherfucker!
Your example is better than mine, but here I go anyway (this is /., anyway):
When my daughter (now 11) was in cloth diapers the diaper service worked exactly like netflix. We rented a fixed number of diapers for a fixed fee per month. Once a week we bagged the diapers we no longer wanted and left them on the porch. The diaper service guy picked them up and left us fresh diapers to replace the ones we left on the porch week before.
In other industry news, today Santa Cruz Operations (SCO) filed suit against Netflix in Federal Court, claiming NetFlix used SCO's patented business methods. According to one SCO insider, "Those NetFlix bastards think they can just patent any old thing, but we are prepared to demonstrate that we have a patent on patenting stuff, provided that the court, judge, and God himself sign this NDA before reviewing our 'Patent Patent'. We've had NetFlix on double-secret probation for a while now, and we're ready for them."
You can't have a battle of wits against an unarmed opponent.
blockbusters strange fee hiarchy is why I went to netflix in the first place....
--
Time is on my side
Well, reviews I've read online are telling me Netflix is losing an assload of DVD's in the mail, since they are so clearly marked for filthy fucking mailsorters to pocket. Bad part is, Netflix is passing some of the cost onto it's customers, chaarging them for lost DVD's once a few have dissapeared in a customer's history.
Grammar Nazis rule!
Having a bookmark to Google does not make you an expert on everything.
I am going to patent jacking off. Monitoring usage may be a problem.
No it isn't. And even if it was, 20 years* of monopoloy on a market is absurd.
From the USPTO website:
* Typical life time of patent
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
First off, it would make you seem more credible if you would learn how to -discuss- something rather than just blaring out your opinion as if you need everyone to listen to it.
... chinese, small mom and pop pizza stores, etc. If they did manage to get such a patent it would have been negated afterwards.
... if you'll notice, Pizza Hut started revoking franchises about the same time they went all-out with delivery. I know, since I was a delivery driver for Pizza Hut in Wichita (the home office for PH, at least until they were bought by Tricon ... the same parent company as Taco Bell and KFC ... technically I think PH is still based in Wichita but the real power is with Tricon) during the time that delivery was made a nation-wide priority rather than just an on again off again idea ... one of my regular delivery stops was the (n
I guess asserting my perspective and criticism isnâ(TM)t part of the discussion process? I guess my bolding text to highlight major points is blaring? I guess when you do it, itâ(TM)s âoediscussingâ because my two replies definitely donâ(TM)t constitute a discussion.
Youâ(TM)re right about one thing. I do want people to hear my perspective. I read other peopleâ(TM)s perspective, so in return I want people to hear my perspective.
Anything else you want to nit-pick?
1) Woolworth never got CLOSE to the scale of Walmart.
2) Even if Woolworth -had- gotten close, would that make it any more right that Walmart was following along? No, it would just make it that much worse.
Youâ(TM)re missing the point. Woolworth was very big in its day and it did a lot damage as far as competition is concerned, mostly because the local competition didnâ(TM)t know how to compete with Woolworth.
Today Woolworth stores are a dime a dozen, mostly because people copied the ideas that work and added their own. Thatâ(TM)s freedom to innovate in business. The same trend is happening to Walmart. Other stores are copying the successful parts of Walmartâ(TM)s business model, and are either competing directly or finding another niche. Do you really think Walmart is going to be the only superstore in the next 30 years?
3) How can you possibly be acting like you're fighting for small business in 1 post? I find that quite amazing.
Wow, you really are a prick. Are you trying to marginalize my concern by saying Iâ(TM)ve only contributed 1 post for small business?
If you care to read through my posting history you can see that Iâ(TM)ve been consistently free-market. Iâ(TM)ve always been against sweet-deals, over-regulation, corporate subsidies and using government to gain an unfair competitive advantage.
I understand that commissioner Powellâ(TM)s âoederegulationâ is a scam. I see the growing conglomeration of media as an overregulation problem that is the product of the FCC setting the barrier-to-entry for TV/Radio broadcasting too high for small business.
I believe that making TV/Radio broadcasting more accessible will solve our handful of companies controlling 90% of the content with economics and create opportunities.
4) Pizza Hut would have gotten shot down for trying to patent home delivery due to TONS of prior art
Iâ(TM)m sorry for using an example that is easy to understand. People relate better to pizza delivery as a business method than they do barcoding checkouts. Often people have a hard time understanding the difference between patenting barcoding technologies, and patenting a business model where you USE that barcoding technology.
5) Just FYI, Pizza Hut loved the delivery idea from day one. It took them a long time to roll it out to all of their markets, which allowed Dominos to dominate alot of areas. Part of the problem was with the various Pizza Hut franchises
"Communism is like having one [local] phone company " - Lenny Bruce
I like this for one reason. Walmart launched their own DVD subscription service a few weeks ago. I hate walmart. This means that Netflix can impose their patent on walmart now, making walmart either a.) pay them b.) battle them in court or c.) fail and shut down their service....
I'd like to see something where they get sued into oblivion, little chance of that happening though. If each individual in America gave Walmart only 5.00 a month, they'd still make something like 1.4 billion a MONTH.
[Something witty and intelligent should have appeared here.]
{Traicovn}
Start reporting them as stollen. ..........How is german bread going to help? If you start telling people that their DVDs have turned into german bread, they'll think you're mad.
That's the funniest shit I've seen in a long time.
[ ]No Karma Bonus [X] Post Anonymously
I just got off the phone with the patent office, and I just patented breathing as it was discovered by my great^100 Grand father "Ooog" in 750,000 B.C. From now on, everybody has to pay me everytime that they take a breath.
Seriously, why are people allowed to patent common sense anyone could think of it crap like this? All this does is create monopolies.
On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
I agree completely. However, one thing that noone has mentioned is how easy it is to get around this patent.
Why not be the first?
"Communism is like having one [local] phone company " - Lenny Bruce
So are the first words in English sentences as well as proper nouns, If you Get my meaning, Technical Boy.
"Has [being a kidnapped teenage girl, raped repeatedly for months] changed you?" - Katie Couric to Elizabeth Smart
if you are right, you need to be modded up.
if you are wrong, at least your post was the first on topic one.
First of all, I'm not going to argue that NetFlix wasn't the first to offer DVD's over the Internet. They did what everybody was doing during the dot com boom.
...but patents aren't granted on originality alone, otherwise anything new would be eligible for a patent.
Was DVD over the Internet original? Technically, yes.
More importantly than being original, was renting DVDs over the Internet obvious? With the advent of the Internet and investment in thousands of new dot coms weren't the combination of economic conditions and new technology an imminent breeding ground for business models as obvious as Internet DVD rentals?
Seriously, if NetFlix hadnâ(TM)t been the first, do you really think there werenâ(TM)t 10 other ventures right behind NetFlix with VCâ(TM)s funding them? Were business method patents really a needed incentive during the days of irrational exuberance? I donâ(TM)t remember Pets.com raising $82.5 million dollars during their IPO for their exclusive BMâ(TM)s. Come to think of it, would you really want to grant a 20-year monopoly to a company like Pets.com?
Try to keep in mind that patents are granted to give people incentive invent new, useful, non-obvious inventions so as to promote science and technology, not a tool to hedge the risk of starting a new business model.
Every business takes risks, especially if they are trying out a new business model. Does every business deserve a 20 year monopoly for trying a new idea?
"Communism is like having one [local] phone company " - Lenny Bruce
Now that I've pantented "self gratification through manual or digital stimulation". I'll be able to afford that summer home I've allways wanted.
Deltron 3030 - Virus (music video)
Netflix were probably just trying to cover their asses in anticipation of competition from the evil empire.
grammar
Don't be silly, large corporations don't get hurt by patents - sheesh.
Except for when they do.
If what you say is so, why is the largest software patent award to date STAC's $150M verdict against tiny Microsoft?
And why individual inventor Lemelson got a $500M verdict against Ford?
Sure, large corporations don't ever get touched.
So I'd recommend that you try them out, but don't cancel your Netflix account. Maybe I'll try them again in a few months, hopefully their delivery latency will decrease and their status info will be more accurate.
But you can't do any of that without first using one of my newly-patented bus stops! Complete with patented bench, suitable for "arranging yourself comfortably while waiting for the bus".
(You don't wanna pay royalties? Sit on the curb!)
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Neither did Netflix.
As soon as Netflix is hit by competitors doing something similar but not protected the patent won't mean anything.
...".
How about this: instead of giving customers a Max Out number of movies, give them 1000 discs every month and swap the 1000 with a different 1000 every month no ifs ands or buts. The customer gets a hefty selection but can't choose specific movies. Therefore there is no need for an Internet connection. The customer just picks a disk from a box. So much for all those interesting computer block diagrams on the patent and phooey on all the verbiage on "... based upon the one or more item selection criteria, an item rental queue
Every month the box is traded for a new one with unknown contents. Missing/damaged disks will be charged for.
Still good enough for a business. It's not the Netflix way but who can really feel the difference? Customer has option to buy too. Is that cool or what?
Then you get a rental business that is a cut above a TV movie channel - no advertising and with full DVD control. Well just when is the next generation of TV coming anyways???
Netflix can't have a monopoly. It'll have to escalate competition out of the patent. Also, competitors will patent their escalation! Netflix, by playing hardball, might have established a precedent leading to its own destruction.
We have exorcised the demons. This house is clear. - Ace Ventura Pet Detective
Know your pads. One time pad: good for cryptography. Two timing pad: where to take your mistress.
I got tired of this too. I bagged them a couple of months ago for that & lousy "I don't give a sh*t" customer service" and subscribed to Walmart's DVD selection.
Currently I am getting a 1 week turn around (from my mailbox to the new movies back in my mail box) which I think is pretty cool and what I expected. Walmart receives & ships movies on Saturdays. Also they claim that "The USPS will track return envelopes. When we receive information from the USPS that it has received a return envelope from your account, we will ship you the next title"
Not that I am wildly pro Walmart but Netflix evidently is growing too fast bringing in new customers to give a squat about their current customers.
-Cable Jumper
Me: "So when when I mark a movie as bad what do you do? Do you run a scan check on them or toss them in to see if they just start up?"
Customer Support: "I can't tell you want we do it's a trade secret."
Me: "So basically what you are telling me is that you send the movie back out to the next poor shmuck to see if he marks it as bad & if he's too lazy to mark it as bad you just keep on sending out the bad movie."
Customer Support: "Just don't mark the movies as bad anymore."
This is Slashdot. I can't see you making much money, somehow...
A refreshing drink made from water, hops and barley.
-- Karma Karma Karma Karma, Karma Chameleon - Boy George
However, verbs in the middle of English sentences are not, Capital G Boy.
I believe that I have experienced prior Art at the Chinese Buffet
1. Start
2. Pay for rights to buffet
3. Move to buffet and select food
4. Return Food to table
5. Still food on the plate (Yes=repeat 5 No=next)
6. Stomach Full? (Yes=next No=goto 4)
7. Visit bathroom and release?(Yes=Take Pepto and goto 4 No=next)
8. Wait until stomach settles (Yes= goto 4 No=End)
Sorry Neflix
SD
âoeWho knew something as harmless as willful ignorance could end up having real consequences?â
Microsoft *IS* more attractive to a *LOT* of customers. There are millions of people out there who use Windows instead of Linux because they WANT to. Just because you don't LIKE that doesn't mean it's not true.
paintball
Walmart came along well after a patent on grocery stores would have expired.
I'm not saying 20 years is the right number, but if no one can implement new ideas without companies like walmart coming along and coopting it once all the risk has been removed, no one will invest in implementing new ideas.
paintball
Did you see the Wired story about NetFlix? NetFlix recommendations are essentially for sale to the highest bidder. Studios can pay NetFlix to recommend movies, spuring DVD sales.
A quote:
The upshot: NetFlix's recommendation system exists strictly to earn NetFlix more money - even at the expense of helping you find movies that you like. It's a case where a company is willfully worsening their customer service in pursuit of profit - the opposite of the way capitalism is supposed to work.
it was a joke you tard, the misspalling was on purpose
Thinking that there could be no better recommendation for GreenCine than that of Slashdot, I signed up. I figured it would be worth trying out, if only to see how slow the shipping would be from Cali to Dallas.
Then, I started putting movies in the queue. What appealed to me was the huge selection of Anime that's not available at Netflix. So I started putting them in the bucket.
Cardcaptor Sakura #3: Long Wait
Chobits #1: Long Wait
Fruits Basket #3: Available!
Mahoromatic #2: Long Wait
Love Hina #1: Long Wait
Out of 16 anime movies I put in the queue, only three were available -- and one of those was almost a gimme (Panda! Go Panda!, an early Miyazaki film, available on Netflix anyway).
With a 3/16 ratio of available-to-long-wait, I decided it wasn't going to be worth it. I cancelled before they shipped anything, so hopefully I at least saved GreenCine a couple bucks in shipping costs.
I like the GreenCine "community" concept, and I think they've got a great chance. But they've got to mature a bit before I move my 400+ Netflix queue over to them. I haven't had any trouble with Netflix in my entire six months... I'm just glad I'm not on the New York area!
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.