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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."

4 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. That's good news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wanted to implement a cookie-driven Web site for a long time, but was clueless as for who I had to pay for using the technology.

    Now I can finally download and install HTTP Cookie Library and send my license check to Amazon.

  2. Bogus, but specific by spRed · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So the patent looks silly on the face, but the opening claims are easy to work around and make it hard for them to sue:

    a method of incorporating at least one data structure from the database into a browser cookie to reduce accesses to the database

    Okay, the stuff I'm storing in the cookie isn't the same as a structure in my database. FOAD. You think it is? I say it is half a structure from my database. Or one item from each of five structures in my database.

    They could drown you in lawsuits, but they didn't need a patent to do that anyway.

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    .sig Karma out the wazoo, better to spend points elsewhere if this is above 2 or below 0
  3. Prior Art by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't know man, Cheech and Chong have been putting some pretty wild shit in their cookies for decades!

  4. Shot in the foot. by Oncogene · · Score: 5, Funny

    You know, the US Patent Office's website uses cookies that would violate this patent.

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    "All hail the glory of the Hypnotoad."