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Amazon Awarded Cookie Patent

Posted by timothy on from the making-unfriendly-behavior-rational dept.

theodp writes "On Tuesday, the USPTO granted Amazon.com a patent for the Use of browser cookies to store structured data, which covers the storing of data structures and non-character data within browser cookies. In a February SEC filing (pdf), Amazon reiterated that they expect that they may license certain patents to third parties in the future."

3 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. CSV, etc? by Joff_NZ · · Score: 4, Interesting

    wouldn't something like storing comma seperated values count as "structured"??

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    The revolution will not be televised. It won't be on a friggin blog either
  2. Give Amazon.com the finger by kherr · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I worked at a company doing cutting-edge stuff and we were always looking for stuff to patent. Our intent was to create a defensive portfolio that would also look enticing to VCs. But we never, ever thought of pursuing patents on the patently obvious (pun intended).

    One-click could be argued as a novel business practice. But crap like this is ridiculous. It's like the old joke of adding "with a computer" to anything and calling it novel. I've already moved to Powells for books, but I'll have to intensify my efforts to get others to stop shopping with Amazon.com.

  3. Courts didn't like all of Morse's claims either by pdcryan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Morse (the telegraph guy) was awarded a patent claim for:

    "electro magnetism, however developed for marking or printing intelligible characters, signs, or letters, at any distances."

    Sound a little over-broad? The Supreme Court thought so too(1853). Broad claims get through the patent office sometimes. That's what courts are for. Will Amazon get some money out of this? Probably. Would I give them any money for it? No.

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    Ryan Kennedy opposes comm