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Amazon's Winding Course Through the Patent Jungle

Posted by samzenpus on from the mine-now dept.

ericjones12398 writes "On one hand, Amazon is not exactly short on patents themselves. The 'non-exhaustive list' on the company's site is a tidy little bundle of e-commerce IP, with a few questionable software patents — including a 1-click buying method, a Lodsys-baiting in-app purchasing method and a social networking patent, all of which have achieved a somewhat notorious reputation. Indeed, the last fiscal year was as significant for Amazon's litigation as for the company's behind-closed-doors acquisitions."

13 comments

  1. One Click by eWarz · · Score: 2

    IIRC Amazon has successfully sued (and won) over the one click patent in the past. I could be wrong though.

    1. Re:One Click by Kenja · · Score: 1

      I know of (and can find no) instance where Amazon one-click went to court. It has however been settled out of court many times and licensed to more or less all takers.

      --

      "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  2. Cliffhanger by ceoyoyo · · Score: 3, Informative

    And on the other hand?

    *Skims the article*

    Oh, the "other hand" seems to be talking about patents the author thinks Amazon would like to have. So not really the other hand at all.

    I'm not going to comment on whether Internet journalism has decreased the quality of information in news articles, but it certainly seems to have decreased the quality of writing.

    1. Re:Cliffhanger by postbigbang · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Blogs != journalism.

      There is Internet journalism, it is rare today, and some of it can be found on blogs. But the intersection of sets of journalism and blogs produces a small number at best.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    2. Re:Cliffhanger by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      I agree with you, but a great many people, including a LOT here on Slashdot, believe that "citizen journalism" i.e. blogs, ARE journalism and that traditional journalism should wither and die.

    3. Re:Cliffhanger by postbigbang · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Journalists have done little to dispel the notion. Bloggers, OTOH, have done much to try to make themselves look like journalists. Often both sides succumb to their own bias, repeat memes as fact, and believe that they're somehow at war with a real or imagined foe. The corporate pressure to ally themselves with other corporate clients also instills a discipline onto the output of journalists, especially freelancers, by purchase of articles that when added together, ally a bias towards the publisher's customers. Truly free and unbiased journalism and research is wickedly difficult to come by these days.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    4. Re:Cliffhanger by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On one hand, the kind of patents that Amazon has.
      On the other hand, the tech media is speculating that Amazon wants a different kind.

      Good to know you can judge writing quality by skimming, though. Comprehension is for suckers!

  3. Re:Fuck Amazon by Kenja · · Score: 5, Funny

    Think you need this...

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  4. IBM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    IBM has ~35,000 patents. Amazon is just a small fish.

    1. Re:IBM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IBM has ~35,000 patents. Amazon is just a small fish.

      Curious example as IBM is the worlds most active company in patents ~20 years strong. EVERYONE is small fish compared to IBM....

    2. Re:IBM by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 1

      IBM has ~35,000 patents.

      Am I really the only one who sees this as a totally absurd number for any company? This should even be a big number for an entire country when it includes all the patents since they were introduced centuries ago.

      --
      Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
  5. Re:Fuck Amazon by evafan76 · · Score: 1

    You sir, made me spray Mountain Dew through my nose which ruined my keyboard... I hope you're happy...