Amazon Patents Pitching As-Seen-On-TV Products

theodp writes "Q. What do you get when you surround the image of Men in Black star Will Smith trying on sunglasses with a pitch for 'MIB Bill Smith Dark Shades'? A. U.S. Patent No. 8,180,688. 'Many people consume broadcast media such as television shows and movies for many hours a week,' Amazon explained to the USPTO in its patent application for a Computer-Readable Medium, System, and Method for Item Recommendations Based on Media Consumption. 'The consumed broadcast media may depict a variety of items during the course of the transmission, such as clothing, books, movies, accessories, electronics, and/or any other type of item.' So, does Amazon's spin on As Seen on TV advertising deserve a patent?"

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[Wowsers]

As patents can be varied just by the language used in it, we should apply for a "as seen on the internet" patent, Amazon don't have that one do they?!

Yup.

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

So, does Amazon's spin on As Seen on TV advertising deserve a patent?"

Yes. If you read the patent, you'll see why.

Re:Yup.

[Anonymous Coward]

Read it and the answer is no. Recommending items based on other items or services consumed is nothing novel. U.S. Patent No. 8,180,688 is just a variant, yet another iteration of that process. Patents require novelty and nonobviousness; that patent provides neither.

Re:Yup.

[Dcnjoe60]

So, does Amazon's spin on As Seen on TV advertising deserve a patent?"

Yes. If you read the patent, you'll see why.

I read the patent and I don't see why. While the patent in question has nothing to do with "as seen on tv" as the summary suggests, it is all about electronically analyzing purchasing habits to make recommendations for other purchases. My local grocery store has been doing this for years. Ebay was doing it before Amazon even existed.

The patent is basically about harvesting consumer data to perform market research and there are gobs of prior art in existence. So, no, it does not deserve a patent.

Re:Yup.

[Tacvek]

The patent is explicitly about purchasing recommendations influenced by the broadcast media the user is currently consuming (i.e. recomendations based on the TV show/commercial/movie/infomercial you are watching *right at this minute*), and what other people purchased while consuming the same program, combined with data about items being shown in said program.

The description gives the example of a button on your cable box/sat receiver remote that you can push while watching TV, which will add a border next to the show allowing you to purchase what is being shown, and offering recommendations for other similar products.

Re:Yup.

[Theaetetus]

Your local grocery store tracks what television programs you watch that involve food and makes recommendations for produce based on what people watching the same programs have also watched and bought? That's a little creepy.

No, but my local grocery store tracks what I purchase and makes recommendations on that. I'm pretty sure those recommendations are based on purchases that other people have made who also purchased what I bought. I know that many on-line retailers do the same. The only novel thing is the television part. Even that isn't truly novel. I'm pretty sure P&G or Ford or Chevy are very aware of what people watch on tv and target their commercials accordingly. They just don't do it with a little button on a box.

Except that neither of those have anything to do with the patent. This is about offering products visible in a scene to viewers, based on purchases of products by other viewers of the same scene. Viewers of commercials are a different thing altogether... Ford isn't advertising to you while you watch a Chevy commercial, and if they were, Chevy would be pissed.

And similarly, your local grocery tracking what you purchase and making recommendations on it, even based on what others purchase, is the same thing Amazon and other retailers have been doing for years: the "people who bought this product also bought _____" field that shows up in every Amazon product. But again, that's shown to you based on you going to look at an ad for a product. When your grocery does it, they're doing it on a receipt, or in a mailer, but it's still part of an ad.

This patent, however, is about products that are displayed in a scene along with dozens of other products. Will Smith is wearing sunglasses, a tie, a shirt, a watch, a suit, shoes, etc. He's driving a certain type of car. He's drinking a Coke. He's talking into a Samsung phone and taking notes with a Montblanc pen. There's a bunch of product placements there, but how do you simultaneously advertise them for purchase, and more importantly, which ones? And to whom? And wouldn't it be useful to have an automated system that allows you to offer for sale, to a viewer, just the products in any scene that other viewers have bought? That's what this patent is about.

Re:Debatable

[msobkow]

Hmm. It seems I misunderstood what the patent is trying to do.

Rather than embed popups and stuff in the video stream, they're trying to associate what you've watched with products that were placed in those particular shows.

I have to admit I've never seen anyone try to do that before. Largely, I think, because most advertisers and retailers realize consumers would hit the roof to have their viewing habits tracked and correlated in such a fashion.

Talk about an invasion of privacy! This makes tracking cookies almost palatable in comparison.

Does that mean

[Dcnjoe60]

Does that mean that Amazon is paying royalties to every the manufacturer of every item in one of their "As seen on TV?" For instance, just because the sunglasses may be the product in questions, what about the shoes the model is wearing? Surely, Amazon is not trying to patent other people's copyrights or to use them in their own get rich scheme without paying the royalties, are they?

Re:Debatable

[Solandri]

Rather than embed popups and stuff in the video stream, they're trying to associate what you've watched with products that were placed in those particular shows.

Actually, I think Amazon is on to something. This is a potential solution to piracy of movies and TV shows.

Right now, content providers sell their content to viewers, and also sell interspersed advertisements within the content (commercials). The viewers don't like the ads, so they come up with popup blockers and commercial skippers to remove them. Likewise, the viewers don't like paying for the content, so they pirate it. The content providers have been fighting back with DRM and draconian copyright protection laws. And we get the huge mess we are in right now.

A possible solution is to give away the content for free, without 30 second commercials or popups. Instead, advertisers pay for product placement within the show itself. Because the ads are now placed within the show, it's difficult (not worth it) to remove the ads. A system needs to be developed where content producers will then be paid by the advertisers based on the number of people who view the show (whether estimated or counted somehow). Content provider gives away show for free, viewers watch, advertisers pay content providers. Everyone is happy.

I have to admit I've never seen anyone try to do that before. Largely, I think, because most advertisers and retailers realize consumers would hit the roof to have their viewing habits tracked and correlated in such a fashion.

I think you're approaching the problem too much from a privacy-centric point of view. The interest in the advertiser here is not just in correlating the product placement ads to what shows people have watched. It's also in making sure those ads are relevant to the viewing demographic. A product placement ad for feminine hygiene products in a robot fight movie is not going to be extremely effective. There needs to be some method developed which will allow advertisers and content producers to measure the efficacy of those product placement ads. That's where this patent comes into play.

Basically, we're going to be bombarded by ads anyway. Do you want to retain all your privacy and get completely random ads? Or do you want to give up some of your privacy and get much more relevant ads? I haven't owned a TV for 3 years. What I've realized when I do get to watch is that I am totally behind the times when it comes to new products that have come out over the last 3 years. That is, the ads are not merely beneficial for the advertiser; they also provide some marginal benefit to me. Enough so that I'd be willing to give up a little bit of my privacy to be kept informed of relevant new products which interest me. e.g. I gave my email address to VMWare so that I could be kept informed of their new products. I exchanged a little bit of my privacy for more timely product updates.