Apple, Starbucks Sued Over Music Gift Cards

Trintech writes "A Utah couple acting as their own attorneys have filed a lawsuit against Apple and Starbucks over the retailers' recent Song of the Day promotion, which offers Starbucks customers an iTunes gift card for a complimentary, pre-selected song download. In a seven-page formal complaint, James and Marguerite Driessen of Lindon, Utah say they developed in 2000, and were granted a patent in February 2006 for, an Internet merchandising utility dubbed RPOS (retail point of sale). The concept, which forms the heart of the infringement lawsuit, would allow gift cards for pre-defined items that can be sold at a brick-and-mortar store but used online; customers could redeem a card for a dining room set or a DVD, for example."

Comments

Anything goes ..

[hebertrich]

Yet another patent we can all live without.
The patent office is really more of a nuisance than anything nowadays.

Eh .. i got an idea .. lest get a patent in for an office that
would examine and grant patents .. see if it passes .. seeing how dumb
they are .. we got a shot at it .. 8)

Re:What about S&H Green Stamps as prior art?

[vtcodger]

Clearly, you have failed to research the method used by the USPTO in evaluating patents. It involves converting the patent to electronic form then scanning the text for the phrase "perpetual motion". If the phrase is not found, the patent is awarded.

No, I'm not sure that I'm kidding.