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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!"

4 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. one is missing by nickname_unique · · Score: 4, Informative

    i'm missing the patent on a "progress bar" which is pending in europe.

  2. Re:Too late? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Pretty much everything that can be invented has been either invented or patented already

    I was going to post that the commissioner of the USA Patent Office said that too. In 1899.

    However, a quick Googling later, I have found that this quote is a myth.

  3. I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned.. by the_rajah · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.pubpat.org/ Public Patent Foundation and their work against the same sort of thing.

    --


    "Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
  4. Re:Scary by redhog · · Score: 4, Informative

    You might be partly right, but at least, you are not correct about all of his books:

    http://www.oreilly.com/openbook

    --
    --The knowledge that you are an idiot, is what distinguishes you from one.