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Amazon Slaps Orbitz and Avis With Patent Lawsuit

Posted by Zonk on from the owch! dept.

theodp writes "Amazon has sued Cendant for allegedly infringing four patents covering electronic commerce at its Orbitz, Avis and other Web sites. Cendant, the biggest U.S. provider of travel and real-estate services, knew 'or should have known' it infringed when using the tools to secure credit-card transactions, handle customer referrals and manage data, according to the lawsuit filed June 22 in federal court in Seattle. Amazon itself was sued by Cendant last year for patent infringement over its recommendation technology. So much for five years of Amazon patent reform."

5 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Defensive lawsuit by robla · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My first thought was that this seems like a classic case of defensive patent action, and is fair game in my book. Cendant was the company that fired first when they hauled Amazon into court, so it's only fair that Amazon return the favor.

    However, it appears that Cendent withdrew its lawsuit in February, so I'm not sure what to make of it. I suppose that if someone draws a gun on you, and then says, "heh heh...just kidding", you wouldn't necessarily be inclined to stop reaching for your own gun. So I can't say that I can muster a lot of pity for Cendant.

    Cendant essentially forced Amazon to look in their patent portfolio to find what they could nail Cendant to the wall with. After having done all of the expensive homework, it seems that Amazon needed to at least recoup those costs.

    Rob

    1. Re:Defensive lawsuit by yog · · Score: 5, Funny

      Another silver lining to this new lawsuit is that it will put Amazon's patents to the test. If they are found to be invalid, this will be a good thing, no matter how evil Cendant may be.

      The online commerce patent situation is long overdue for a shakeout. We have to get rid of all these ridiculous patents before it completely blocks startups from free access to the online marketplace. Without invalidating some of these patents, everyone is at risk of being sued simply for trying to conduct their business online, and that will kill internet commerce except for a few giants who can afford the patent royalties and litigation costs.

      Sad, when the internet's original promise was to empower the little guy and gal and level the playing field.

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      it's = "it is"; its = possessive. E.g., it's flapping its wings.
  2. get Book Burro (Greasemonkey script) by cahiha · · Score: 5, Informative

    So many things point to Amazon that it seems like a lot of hassle to buy anywhere else, but it's not.

    Get yourself a copy of Book Burro; it will automatically annotate any Amazon page you go to with a list of other bookstores you can buy the book at, as well as the prices (often lower than Amazon).

  3. Pointed Patents by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Patent registrants like Amazon's Bezos say things like "we only register these patents to protect our own right to do things this way, not to prevent others from doing so". Then they turn around and, as is their right under the patent, prevent others from doing things that way. There ought to be a "defensive only" form of patent, or a standard, binding statement that a company can assert, which states they will waive the right to become plaintiffs in a lawsuit (or threaten to do so) claiming rights under the patent. Then, when they say they're benign, we will have a reason to believe them. They won't be able to say "we're protecting our ability to work this way by stopping the competition from working this way, and taking our business", which is just weasel words to use their patents like a weapon, not just a shield.

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    make install -not war

  4. UPDATE: Details on Amazon's Patent Lawsuit by theodp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    According to documents filed in the case by Preston Gates & Ellis (yep, Bill G's dad!), Amazon is joined in the lawsuit by A9.com in demanding injunctive relief and unspecified triple damages for "irreparable injury and damages" as a result of Cendant's infringement of the following patents:

    Secure method and system for communicating a list of credit card numbers over a non-secure network (5,715,399), which is held by Bezos and covers displaying "the last N digits of the credit card number, where N is an integer,"

    Internet-based customer referral system (6,029,141), which is also held by Bezos and covers Amazon's affiliate program,

    Electronic commerce using multiple roles (6,629,079), which covers the use of "multiple electronic shopping carts," and

    Navigating within a body of data using one of a number of alternative browse graphs (6,625,609), which describes how one might sell "a Pez candy dispenser in the shape of the Marvin the Martian."

    BTW, Bezos' '399 patent was the subject of a curious 2001 Prior Art contest run by the Bezos-funded BountyQuest - ties to Bezos were never disclosed and the contest results were never revealed.