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Amazon 1-Click Patent Survives Almost Unscathed
Zordak writes "Amazon's infamous '1-click' patent has been in reexamination at the USPTO for almost four years. Patently-O now reports that 'the USPTO confirmed the patentability of original claims 6-10 and amended claims 1-5 and 11-26. The approved-of amendment adds the seeming trivial limitation that the one-click system operates as part of a 'shopping cart model.' Thus, to infringe the new version of the patent, an eCommerce retailer must use a shopping cart model (presumably non-1-click) alongside of the 1-click version. Because most retail eCommerce sites still use the shopping cart model, the added limitation appears to have no practical impact on the patent scope.'" Also covered at TechFlash.
And here I thought I being mangnanimous with the PTO people and giving them the benefit of the doubt was the sound and decent thing to do.
Not any more.
They are stupid idiots.
Now who's gonna patent the wonderful idea that is 2 Click ?
NO SIG
With this PTO, you probably can.
NO SIG
Okay, conspiracy theorists. If we are in the "Brave New World", where the fuck is my free drugs and obligatory orgies?
College ;-)
Living With a Nerd
Which is all the more reason why the world as a whole should say "no" to the US's copyright laws and rules.
Software Patents in particular have crippled software development in such a way that if any corporation wants you gone then you are just gone. There is little defence even if their claims are totally without merit.
Nonsense! Drugs are NOT free in college and orgies are SELDOM obligatory.
I want my money back.
NO SIG
I just clicked on this article, now apparently I own it, so: get off my lawn!!
Sheldon
This is an incredibly obvious patent and not at all novel. Is the bar for non-obviousness now simply that nobody else has patented it yet? Bit of a..."circular" (to put it nicely) definition, no?
If you are willing to alienate Mac users, just implement a right-click method.
Set your phasers on "funky"!
The USPTO may find itself the butt of many jokes if SCOTUS invalidates 99% of software patents in their Bilski ruling.
"Amazon 1-Click Patent Survives Almost Unscathed." Respect for the USPTO, not so much.
This is probably just a complete coincidence, but a few months ago Apple removed the shopping cart system from iTunes, switching it to a "wish list" system with 1-click purchasing. Did they see this coming?
I do not like the idea that I can accidentally order something. 1-click is the dumbest invention ever.
so, they cant come up and say 'we shouldnt have awarded such a blatantly absurd and obvious patent for such a basic action' outright, but are resorting to legalese to save face to invalidate the patent without admitting absurdity of whole u.s. patent system.
Read radical news here
Those CD of the Month clubs are prior art.
Although you did do the clever thing and add "with a computer", so it'll probably fly.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Now THATS what im talking about!
NO SIG
Everyone knows shopping carts are old school.
/what a strange patent
now we have the shopping cloud! win all around!
CS majors know the time/space tradeoff, but they never get taught the 3rd, crucial, tradeoff of the set: comprehension!
Invalidating a patent is asking a government bureaucrat to acknowledge that him or his fellow bureaucrat was wrong. This simply cannot happen very often, regardless of the merits of the patent in question.
How big of a barrier to entry are software patents to innovators? You and I come up with a great idea but to implement it requires three other patents (which we would argue two of them are obvious but have been granted anyway) - which large players conveniently hold and cross-license with each other because well, they can afford it. How twisted away from the original purpose of promoting innovation by individuals will US Patent law become? The Futurama vision of Momcorp springs to mind.
Shh.
...as part of a sequence of numbers used to identify a desired object from a set of possible objects. my claim should have as much validity as theirs.
... the USPTO saves millions of dollars with their newly introduced 1-click patent approval process.
.sig? Get your own damn
A quarter in a receptacle each time you overcome...
What should you do if you under-cum?
"one click patent" will allow users to apply for patents with a single click.
This idea is patented.
In soviet Russia, God creates you!
To most people, it appears to be one-click, but you're basically patenting the idea of fooling people into thinking you have one-click ordering.
I have always wondered about this "feature". I'm used to having all of my items in one shipment, one box. Then Amazon's fulfillment centers became - not sure how to describe it, but more of a "just in time" inventory system. So your orders can come from different warehouses. They asked if you wanted it all in one box, or ship as things become available, or cheapest shipping.
To me, that was far more innovative than "click", box ships, "click", box ships, "click", box ships.
In fact, based on your description "one-click" purchases simply queue up for a length of time and they decide how to ship the lot themselves. To me, this is less useful than any other way they do it, and gives Amazon the opportunity to get the most shipping fees out of you.
This patent should be defeated by demonstrating prior art of an upsell - porn sites did this in 1998. Amazon is just calling it a 1-click purchase/sale instead of upsell; it's really the same thing, though, and is not unique to their store.
Reading this was probably my biggest WTH moment of the day.
Whatever it is, it's notablog.
Amazon 1-Click Patent has now filed a 0 click patent. The idea behind it is that because of the 1 click patent they become so unpopular clients don't need to click at all. But rest assured, there is still the 1-wipe patent.
Stop being stupid or your nation will sink into a hole, into the ground.
This is not in our best interests, as we shall be dragged along screaming -- hopefully just till the hole edge.
So, get a grip of your government now -- I mean right now.
This is something on which you can't expect the help of foreigners, not even if you pay them.
Act now, demoronize your institutions or cry later (e.g. for people sent to unnecessary wars).
Obama is ok (kinda), but some things must be done by the citizens themselves.
I've never been able to buy anything from Amazon with just one click. Have you counted them? WARNING: More than 1 click may be required unless you are already logged on and a bunch of other requirements are in order - which they probably aren't. Please allow 30 minutes to purchase.
We're in the worst recession in 80 years. Millions of highly qualified people are begging for jobs. It's time to fire the whole fucking patent office. Every single one of them. And hire people vaguely competent.
Their mission statement might as well be "We make products and services more expensive for consumers, less innovative all the while striving to reduce the competitiveness of the entire nation"
My advise to the patent office is keep up your good work.. with love -China
It's nice to know that not all ridiculous patents are accepted everywhere.
http://www.techvibes.com/blog/amazon-one-click-patent-application-refused-in-canada
If you allow the user to have multiple shopping lists, and then take each list to the checkout rather than a basket... then one-click doesn't apply, right?
In the UK there is a chain of brick and mortar stores called Argos. You don't have a shopping trolley, cart or basket... you have a bit of paper on which you write the codes of the items you want and you take that to the checkout and then once paid someone gets them from the warehouse and brings them to the counter near the exit.
You can have multiple lists, and pay separately. Thus, this is not a shopping cart.
By taking the idea of shopping lists online it's feasible that the multiplicity of lists breaks the existing cart definition enough to allow one-click.
Actually one-click becomes even easier then... as it's just one of many lists that you have... a buy-now list, a buy-later list... a gift-list... etc.
Would this be enough?
http://igdmlgd.blogspot.com/2010/03/one-click-patent-reexamination-over.html