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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?"

9 of 37 comments (clear)

  1. 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 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.

    2. 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...

  2. 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 kutuz_off · · Score: 4, Funny

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

  3. 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

  4. 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
  5. 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!!!

  6. 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.