If there was why did they either not patent it themselves or contest the patent application.
Because most small companies don't have the resources to afford a legal staff of the size necessary to investigate patent claims or file one themselves.
The patent process is designed by lawyers for lawyers. It is painstaking and lengthy, requiring months of research and upwards of 1,000 pages of documentation. You can't just call up your local patent office and say "Hey, I just invented something cool, could you email me my patent?" Billion dollar corporations have huge expensive legal departments to devote all their time on this stuff.
A small start-up, OTOH, has little time enough for writing the code and attracting investors/customers. Certainly there was prior art for one-click, but amazon found it and had their lawyers "buy" it for them.
Patents are not about protecting the people who invent; rather, they protect the people who can afford the process of filing a patent.
Slashdot Mirror
So I guess gcc and modperl will be made illegal? I can't vouch for anyone else, but those are the tools I use to hack.
Wait, I can see it now: "If we made keyboards illegal, then only crackers would be using keyboards." (ala NRA)
Senseless legislation. When will Lars run for Senate?
Because most small companies don't have the resources to afford a legal staff of the size necessary to investigate patent claims or file one themselves.
The patent process is designed by lawyers for lawyers. It is painstaking and lengthy, requiring months of research and upwards of 1,000 pages of documentation. You can't just call up your local patent office and say "Hey, I just invented something cool, could you email me my patent?" Billion dollar corporations have huge expensive legal departments to devote all their time on this stuff.
A small start-up, OTOH, has little time enough for writing the code and attracting investors/customers. Certainly there was prior art for one-click, but amazon found it and had their lawyers "buy" it for them.
Patents are not about protecting the people who invent; rather, they protect the people who can afford the process of filing a patent.
czep