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Amazon Asks Congress to Curb Patent Abusers

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the good-for-the-gander dept.

theodp writes "As Amazon urged Congress to change the law to protect the e-tailler from patent abusers, Rep. Lamar Smith had a question: 'Could not Amazon.com be accused of being a troll for patenting the one-click?' Smith asked, a wry smile on his face." While it's nice to see to see tech companies behind such legislation, it would seem there's some pots calling the kettle black, so to speak.

2 of 243 comments (clear)

  1. Wavelets, anyone? by Poromenos1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    One field where I think patents REALLY hinder innovation is wavelet compression. Have you seen the difference in size/quality between JPEG and JPEG2000? It's amazing. Last I heard, Xiph was going to make an audio format using wavelets as well, and nobody is willing to touch the damn thing because of all the patents on it. :(

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    Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
  2. Re:Submarine-patents by Throtex · · Score: 4, Informative

    +5 Informative? Have you ever heard of laches? I'm talking about equitable estoppel, as applied to litigation, not prosecution laches. Submarine patents as such no longer really exist in the United States since the TRIPs agreement. Submarine patents fall under the scope of prosecution laches, a delay in securing your rights to a patent. Failure to enforce a patent, however, can also have consequences if not done in a timely manner. You cannot sit back and watch someone build an empire from your patent without doing anything, bringing it to their attention, etc. and expect to cash in six or seven years down the road.

    I swear, Slashdot should stick to technology and leave the legal commentary to people who know better.