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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!
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
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.
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.
Patents are for keeping out those pesky small innovative companies who can't affort to go to court and don't have their own patent portfolio so that they can force cross-licensing.
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
You're showing your ignorance to basic capitalism.
BS patent or not, Netflix having a patent on this method of DVD rentals kills the competition--whether it comes from a Big Corporation or otherwise. A lack of competition is ALWAYS bad for the consumer. In the end, it's not WalMart who's getting screwed, it's you.
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?
The part I don't understand is why you jackoffs find it a bad idea that a large corporation would patent an idea, aside from this situation. If a corporation is the first with an idea, how come it suddenly stinks, simply cause they already have money? It's the same reason people switch music and start calling names, and putting music groups down because they sell out. Oh, we're not the only ones listening to it anymore, oh no, it's not cool. They sold out. It's not alternative anymore. Get on with your lives. Either you like something or you don't.
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
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.
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.
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...
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
Netflix used to have some adult-ish titles a couple years ago. Then they just... vanished off the rental lists. I wrote in and asked about it. Got no response.
I originally signed up for the service to get a couple of titles my video store didn't have (Brazil, some concert films). I had a few titles on my rental list that started "Playboy's...", but after not looking for a month or so, I couldn't even find the category any more.
In my mind, if you're gonna carry very-soft adult materials like playboy videos (basically just naked girls prancing around. Nothing more provokative than a nipple), then do it. Don't change your mind. The local cable operators carry more "offensive" on the scrambled stations all day long, and they didn't stop carrying mainstream movies with more provokative content.
They changed their mind. I don't know why. But after that, I thought perhaps they COULD change their minds again, and suddenly head down the Blockbuster path of "extra special no-naked-people" versions of movies. Boo Hiss.
I've used a couple of rental services since then, but after a better video store finally opened locally, I had almost no need of netflix service.
Now I just use wantedlist.com, which is an adult-only service, and don't worry what the hell netflix might do.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
Has /. become so skewed that any patent is considered evil? I mean, Netflix did come up with a very innovative business plan, and they execute that business plan very well. WalMart came along several years later is trying to copy Netflix. Why shouldn't Netflix get some license revenue from that?
This is not an outrageous patent.
"The defense of freedom requires the advance of freedom" - George W Bush
I had a few titles on my rental list that started "Playboy's...", but after not looking for a month or so, I couldn't even find the category any more.
suddenly head down the Blockbuster path of "extra special no-naked-people" versions of movies.
That annoys the shit out of me. What the fuck is it with people here in the States that makes them so afraid of seeing naked people? BUT THE CHILDREN MIGHT SEE. It's the soccer moms doing it, I'm telling you...
It's not so much that they cut the naked people out. It cutting ANYTHING out of the movie without telling me. I want to see the movie the way the director intended it. Which is why I'm a big fan of director's cuts that have more footage, a lot of times extra scenes that add a LOT to the movie. I hate it when someone high up cuts this and this out to get the pg-13 rating which means bigger sales.
Screw that. Movies are an art form. I don't go to a museum and expect to see black bars on all the naked statues and paintings, do I? I fail to see the difference.
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
Soooo... does this mean Blockbuster has to stop its movie rental pass things?
As I recall, they came out with that after Netflix.
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.
According to Title 35 (Patents) of the US Code, not just anything is patentable. In fact, only inventions and processes defined here are patentable. Further, there are specific instances when an invention or process is not patentable.
The problem is none of these are enforced. It's easy cheesy to patent something that has been in the public domain for hundreds of years. Perhaps those patents aren't valid, but defending against an invalid patent claim takes millions. You independently "invent" thousands upon thousands of patented ideas every time you write a program. If there weren't a general truce and distain for patents in the field we would in an even bigger mess. The business world will be in a similar morass in a few years now that business practice patents have been validated, except I imagine 90% of MBA's would kill the goose that lays the golden eggs if hungry for some poultry.
God help anyone starting a business now in the developed world, well unless it is a legal firm with patents on the partner system for IP cross licensing.
While it may be a BS patent, it's nice to see a large corporation get screwed by a patent for once.
Rather short-sighted. I personally don't care whether corporations are large or small, as long as they make nice products without ruining things for the rest of society (such as environment, legislation, etc.)
There are no winners in the BS patent game, except perhaps patent attourneys. Seeing people punished for trying to do productive work makes me feel sick and sad. Anyway, they'll probably start suing from the low end, so wipe the grin off your face.
Any sufficiently advanced libertarian utopia is indistinguishable from government.
Unfortunately for you, many people, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, disagree.
Unfortunately, the people who believe that business models should be patentable will find out too late that it was a bad idea.
"Intellectual Property" isn't. Ideas are very different from material goods, and trying to treat them the same is stifling the creativity that has advanced science, technology, and business in the United States up until now.
TTFN
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?
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.
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.