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Amazon Sued For Recommending Books

Posted by timothy on from the if-you-say-litigious-we-sue dept.

localman writes "Cedant, the owner of Super 8 motels and Days Inn, is suing Amazon for patent infringement for recommending books with it's 'customers who purchased X also purchased Y' technology. Heh. 'Technology.' It's always fun to see Amazon hoist by its own petard, as it were, but it would really stink if no website could offer it's customer's recommendations. Got Prior Art?"

37 comments

  1. Amazon manipulation still going on... by Black+Rabbit · · Score: 1

    Is this old news? Amazon has certainly been CENSORING book reviews on its website for a while now.

  2. Since you are interested in... by kk49 · · Score: 1

    patented business process news, may we suggest

    http://news.google.com/news?q=patent+business+proc esses&hl=en&lr=&tab=gn&ie=UTF-8&scorin g=d

    --
    You can have your god back when you are old enough to handle the responsibility.
  3. Yeesh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll
    ...it's 'customers who purchased X also purchased Y' technology. Heh. 'Technology.' It's always fun to see Amazon hoist by its own petard, as it were, but it would really stink if no website could offer it's customer's recommendations.

    OK, I can accept that you somehow managed to use "it's" correctly once, probably by accident. But how did you get to be the last person in the world remembering to place a quote mark (or what passes for one) outside the period?

    1. Re:Yeesh by jgardn · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Hell will freeze over when they begin using and . This is only a minor snowstorm.

      --
      The radical sect of Islam would either see you dead or "reverted" to Islam.
    2. Re:Yeesh by Xtifr · · Score: 3, Informative

      But how did you get to be the last person in the world remembering to place a quote mark (or what passes for one) outside the period?

      Since you mention "the world", I'll point out that the stylistic guideline you're referring to is peculiarly American. The British have always had the (far more sensible, IMO) rule that the punctuation only goes inside the quotes if it's actually found in the material being quoted. And over the last twenty or thirty years, the so-called "British Rule" has become acceptable in American English as well.

      Here's a tip for ya: The Elements of Style is a great book for improving your own writing, but it absolutely fails to distinguish between rules, guidelines, and mere suggestions, which makes it a terrible resource for criticizing the works of others. For that, I recommend you obtain the Chicago Manual of Style, which (unlike Strunk & White) is used by professional editors throughout the US.

  4. Prior Art by KilobyteKnight · · Score: 2, Interesting

    As a business method, there is certainly prior art. It's called "upselling", and it's been around as long as people have been selling things.

    --
    When will Windows be ready for the desktop?
    1. Re:Prior Art by curious.corn · · Score: 1

      But since it's been done on the 'unter-nnet' it's a new & novel implementation of, uh, teh-nulogy... at least according to the USPTO... ;-)

      --
      Mi domando chi à il mandante di tutte le cazzate che faccio - Altan
    2. Re:prior art by Nafai7 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah but you are using a computer. Using a computer for it makes it all different. And new. And patentable.

      You think the U.S. will make it into the future? I suspect that rampant greed will cause us to implode.

    3. Re:prior art by dprust · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hey, you are ON to something! Let's sue the Librarians! But, if we do it, we best do it really quietly...

    4. Re:Prior Art by orangesquid · · Score: 1

      I think it's more like this:
      Buy two nights at this Days Inn with just one click!
      Customers who stayed at this Days Inn also stayed at the Super 8 across town when they realized it was cheaper.

      --
      --TheOrangeSquid Is it any wonder things seem so awry? We swim in a sea of confusion and don't have to think to survive
  5. OT: Apostrophe rant by angst_ridden_hipster · · Score: 4, Funny

    Good God.

    How many apostrophe errors can you fit into a single sentence?

    No wonder the Liberal Arts types have such scorn for geeks. We're supposedly all about logic and process, but can't even manage simple grammar rules.

    If I wrote code like that, my compiler would have me taken out and shot.

    --
    Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?
    www.fogbound.net
    1. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by Timber_Z · · Score: 1

      Of course the Liberal Arts guys are the ones who came up with the rules. Now if programmers came up with the rules for speaking / writing, the rules would be very logical. Of course only computers would be able to understand what people are saying. Thus no more human interaction.

    2. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      In fairness, he used both "its" and "it's" correctly, once apiece. And Taco probably would have thrown an apostrophe into "were". So the answer is that he could have fit three more into that sentence.

    3. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When the sentence is "Heh.", apparently none.

    4. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by Kick+the+Donkey · · Score: 1, Interesting

      If grammer rules had any logic to them, what so ever (or is it what soever, or whatsoever?), we'd be just fine. However, they where (or is it were?) never created. They've evolved. Hence, the abstract-ness of it all...

      --
      /. is a bunch of nerds at a million typewriters. It's not a political conspiracy determined to undermine your beliefs.
    5. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by bersl2 · · Score: 1

      If geeks had designed the English language---hell, if ANYONE had designed the English language---the syntax would be regular. But English wasn't designed.

      As for the errors, there are only three: two "it's" instead of "its," and "hoist" instead of "hoisted." I've seen worse.

    6. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by kutuz_off · · Score: 4, Funny

      Posters who complained about improper apostrophe use also complained about improper comma use. Would you like to do that?

    7. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by angst_ridden_hipster · · Score: 1

      Yes, but even thought the language has a nasty syntax, it's certainly no harder to learn than, say, the complexities of regular expressions.

      As for the errors, I guess it depends on how you parse "customer's recommendations." I was uncharitable in my parsing, since the patent involved was about purchase-based recommendations, not customer-created recommendations.

      And hell, I'm a churlish curmudgeon, and felt like being a nitpicker. Sue me. Or mod me down.

      --
      Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?
      www.fogbound.net
    8. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by angst_ridden_hipster · · Score: 1

      No logic?

      Sure there is! But the logic just happens to have a lot of exceptional cases.

      "In the computer world, a standard is a rule followed except most of the time." -- William Abikoff

      Same with grammar.

      --
      Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?
      www.fogbound.net
    9. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by dprust · · Score: 1

      Whachootalkin'about... take a look at computer languages like Java! Look me in the eye and tell me geeks make things regular! :-)

    10. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by BrokenHalo · · Score: 1
      Now if programmers came up with the rules for speaking / writing, the rules would be very logical.

      But they probably wouldn't be able to communicate anything of significance, either.

      Oh, wait...

    11. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by pne · · Score: 1

      As for the errors, there are only three: two "it's" instead of "its," and "hoist" instead of "hoisted."

      "Hoist" is the standard form in that phrase. The other error is the greengrocer's plural "customer's".

      --
      Esli epei etot cumprenan, shris soa Sfaha.
    12. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it's "whatsoever."

    13. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by Kick+the+Donkey · · Score: 1

      apparently, we're ( or is it were) a little slow this morning...

      --
      /. is a bunch of nerds at a million typewriters. It's not a political conspiracy determined to undermine your beliefs.
    14. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by bedessen · · Score: 1

      Oh come on, that's baloney. The rules for using the apostrophe are quite logical.

      "it's" is a contraction of "it is". The ' means "something was taken out and the phrase was shortened". If you can logically replace the word in question with "it is" then you want the apostrophe. Same with "you're" versus "your". If you can use "you are" and the sentence still makes sense then you want "you're", otherwise "your".

      "Customer's" is the posessive of one customer. "Customers'" is the posessive of many customers. If you're talking about one customer then you want the first, if you mean two or more customers you want the latter. You can think of everything to the left of the apostrophe as being the original word, and everything to the right being something added to show that it's a possessive.

      How is any of that not logical? And yet the article submitter apparently did not have even the slightest notion of considering the proper usage. If someone posted code on the front page that didn't compile because it was grammatically invalid, you'd damn well hear about it from angry readers.

    15. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by Kick+the+Donkey · · Score: 1
      Yes, because the code would not be funcitonal if it wouldn't compile (and sometimes, even after it compiles). The poster's grammer mistakes didn't impeade our understanding of what he was trying to communicate. Hence, his post, with the grammer errors, was functional.

      One of these days, we'll all figure out that grammer and, for the most part, spelling, are artificial contructs of based on a primitive view of the world.

      And for the record, I used 4 apostrophes, and all correctly :p !

      --
      /. is a bunch of nerds at a million typewriters. It's not a political conspiracy determined to undermine your beliefs.
    16. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by townmouse · · Score: 1

      Your grammar and spelling may be 'contructs of based', but I prefer to make myself clear.

      --
      Ask me if I've been required to disclose any crypto keys.
    17. Re:OT: Apostrophe rant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      but I prefer to make myself clear.

      Oooh, transparent townmouse! How do you do that?! Say, you've got a smudge there.

  6. Dupe by IBeatUpNerds · · Score: 1

    Nothing new to see here, move along.

    http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/04/18 37213&tid=155

  7. a strong sentiment by BortQ · · Score: 0

    Fuck patents in their dirty asses.

    --

    A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
  8. Just ignore the law by pjay_dml · · Score: 2

    A law only works, if a majority adhears to it. As soon as no one listens, the expenses of enforcing it become to high.....
    Prohibition in the U.S.A. from 1920-33

  9. prior art by araven · · Score: 4, Informative

    Seems like something that librarians have been doing for centuries. "If you liked that Trixie Belden book, why don't you try Nancy Drew?" I've seen reading lists along the same lines to suggest other works to people on waiting-lists to borrow the most popular books.

    Don't mess with the librarians.

    ~

    --
    "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." -Emerson
  10. I have a solution... by Jaime2 · · Score: 2, Informative

    to all these trivial patent suits. Since it seems that common business methods can be patented, let's patent the business model of patenting something common and suing someone to get money we didn't earn.
    Then anyone who brings a stupid patent suit up owes us money!!!

    1. Re:I have a solution... by MoriaOrc · · Score: 1

      Close, but you have to figure out how to do that with a computer.

  11. From the early days by SilentJ_PDX · · Score: 1

    Back in maybe 1994 or 1995, I remember using a system that some student developed. You would upload a list of your CDs and it would find similarities between your list and other people's lists and then recommend CDs that were present in many other people's lists but not yours. For instance, if it found five boy band CDs in your collection and 90% of the lists with those five boy band CDs also had a Debbie Gibson CD, it would recommend the Debbie Gibson CD.

    I'm pretty sure this was pre-web (I think it worked via email) And it had some fancy mathematical name like the 'difference engine'.

    I wish I could remember more but hopefully this jogs someone's memory...

    1. Re:From the early days by reshin · · Score: 1

      I remember something like that at MIT around 1993 by the name of Ringo. It remember it asking about bands rather than CDs. It think became Firefly then got gobbled up by Microsoft.

  12. From the article summary ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    with it's 'customers who purchased X ...
    offer it's customer's recommendations

    "its".