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Amazon Patents User Viewing Histories

Chris Cleveland writes "Yet another astounding patent from the USPTO. I was browsing the patent database, and discovered that Amazon received a patent today on using customer viewing histories to generate recommendations. If a customer views product A, and then later views product B, and you use that to infer a relationship between A and B, then you've infringed on this patent. This patent is a continuation of an earlier patent (#6,317,722) on using shopping carts to generate recommendations. When will this stupidity end?"

20 of 430 comments (clear)

  1. End? by johnmearns · · Score: 5, Funny

    It won't end until amazon patents getting absurd patents. Then its over.

    --
    "I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it." -Voltaire
    1. Re:End? by MadMidnightBomber · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm about to patent "doing ... things with er, stuff". Wish me luck.

      --
      "It doesn't cost enough, and it makes too much sense."
    2. Re:End? by Orgazmus · · Score: 1, Funny

      Why dont everyone with access to a router or a DNS-server just blackhole amazon.com?
      It might not be the solution, but it would be very funny.

      --
      The system had the verbosity of HTML combined with all the readability of compiled assembly viewed as bitmap images
  2. Patent Politics by rednip · · Score: 4, Funny
    When will this stupidity end?
    One session of Congress after someone patents the business model of "infulencing legislation by campain donation, "informational trips" to resorts, and payments for public speaking. Or better yet patents a bicameral legislature, then sues the U.S. govt.
    --
    The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
  3. Patent THIS, Bezos... by blcamp · · Score: 4, Funny


    I claim ownership and patent to the entire process of human indigation of all ridiculous patents that are OBVIOUSLY based on prior fscking art.

    --
    The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
  4. Re:When will this stupidity end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    i don't think anyone should be rewarded for anything in society.

  5. hmmm..... by God'sDuck · · Score: 2, Funny

    y'know, if they're asleep at the wheel anyway, it may at last be time to submit patent proposal #7,545,763: A system in which a central authority examines claims by inventors, selects which ones are original, and then protects said inventors from others copying their artifice.

  6. Re:When will this stupidity end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wow, "Communist Troll" got modded up. Somebody's drinking the Stalin Kool-Aid too hard today...

  7. Re:Getting Worst... by 0111+1110 · · Score: 2, Funny

    U2 has an album called "How to build an atomic bomb". Not a smart purchase if big brother is watching.

    --
    Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
  8. Re:Getting Worst... by coopex · · Score: 2, Funny

    Don't you see, that's the genius of it! Played forward, it's ordinary Bono and such. But backwards...

    --
    The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
  9. Re:Isn't this just a staple of old fashioned retai by QuantumG · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah! And a fax machine is just an envelope that goes through the telephone!

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  10. Amazon should license this patent to USPTO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, if Amazon files a stupid patent A, and then later files another stupid patent B, USPTO can recommend Amazon to file yet another stupid patent C.

  11. Re:Wait by Taladar · · Score: 2, Funny

    In the Stone Age Ugh traded a sharp stone and a stick from Ogh and Ogh thought "He will probably build a weapon from those" and asked him wether he also wanted to trade for a piece of string to tie the two together.

  12. Re:The most common example of all... by symbolic · · Score: 3, Funny


    "Would you like fries with that?"

  13. "When will this stupidity end?" by l0b0 · · Score: 2, Funny

    When some company patents not buying their product!

  14. If you liked by erveek · · Score: 3, Funny

    this ridiculous patent, may we also suggest one-click shopping?

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    -- This void intentionally left null.
  15. The Future (patent pending) by LifeMatesCanada.Com · · Score: 2, Funny

    When will it end?

    Hmmm. People use the address bar to type in Amazon.com - therefore we now patent the use of browsers, keyboards, and monitors.

    But wait! In order to effectively type our patented brand into our patented browser using our patented technology, users have to send electrical nerve signals from their brain to their fingertips, to cause muscular movement. All of these cells are supported by a system that continuously pulls oxygen from the blood, and transports waste carbon dioxide to the lungs.

    Therefor we request a patent on all biomechanical movement, electricity, and oxygen.

    We also patent the millions of years of evolution including all single-celled organisms that were the starting point of the development of the Amazon.com brand.

    God? You're next.

    --
    Single? Canadian? We can help. Visit http://www.l
  16. Prior art by Cyn · · Score: 2, Funny

    Go into any store (we'll use electronics as an example).

    Look at a small television.

    Look at some RCA cables.

    Watch as salespeople try to sell you a huge plasma tv and/or component cables.

    [ profit? ]

    --
    cyn, free software and *nix operating systems enthusiast.
  17. Prior art by jdavidb · · Score: 2, Funny

    It would seem that the entire field of machine learning is prior art...

  18. Prior art? by Chadster · · Score: 3, Funny

    My meet-cute-girl-in-bookstore process...

    I am browsing in the bookstore. I see a really cute girl pick up a book that I have read. So I walk over and say, "If you like that book, I think you will like this one".