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EFF To Fight Dubious Patents

Posted by timothy on from the applause-applause dept.

theodp writes "The Electronic Frontier Foundation launched a campaign on Monday to overturn patents that it says are having a chilling effect on public and consumer interests. The ten patents initially cited as problematic by the EFF Patent Busting Project are: one-click online shopping, online shopping carts, hyperlinking, video streaming, internationalizing domain names, pop-up windows, targeted banner ads, paying with a credit card online, framed browsing, and affiliate linking. Maybe this will prompt former EFF Board Member Tim O'Reilly to share that killer piece of 1-click prior art that's sitting on his bookshelf!"

7 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Here's my chance! by Negatyfus · · Score: 3, Funny

    I hereby patent first posts!

    1. Re:Here's my chance! by caino59 · · Score: 3, Funny

      too late...

      that anonymous coward guy has A LOT of prior art...

    2. Re:Here's my chance! by eclectro · · Score: 4, Funny


      Congratulations on your first post.

      You are hereby granted patent no. 7,152,654; "Expression for totally useless posting at the top of a comment thread."

      While some of your slashdot friends may complain that there was prior art for this, you do not have to worry. It's our word against theirs.

      We don't bother to research this stuff out anyway, and quite frankly we don't care.

      Sincerely,

      The US patent office.

      --
      Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
  2. It's funny when the patent website... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Uses a 'shopping cart' too. I wonder if they've been sued.

  3. More patents. by JosKarith · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wonder if I can patent speculative patenting...

    ...tho I have a feeling there may be a piece or two of prior art on that one

    --
    'Don't worry' said the trees when they saw the axe coming, 'The handle is one of us.'
  4. Software patents: not all bad? by Aim+Here · · Score: 5, Funny

    "... pop-up windows, targeted banner ads, ... "

    You mean the fuckheads who design websites full of this sort of garbage could be forced to cough up swingeing royalties for the privilege of polluting the internet? Almost makes me want to support software patents....

  5. Re:Post your prior art proof now! by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1, Funny

    Sorry, I've just patented the method of proving prior art by posting it to Slashdot.

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.