1 click ordering shot to shreds.

By a disgruntled customer from New Zealand no less. Better not to mess with the Kiwis.

Rockin'

I like Amazon

Well, in fairness, this sort of thing probably goes on a lot - I mean companies who think they invented something or they have some kind of exclusive right to something.

I'm not sure how much of a benefit it is to society in general for Amazon to be exposed in this way. I'm not sure I see the valididty of an argument either way regarding one-click shopping.

No probably about it, it definitely goes on all the time. Although whether it's about companies who genuinely think they invented something or whether it's about companies who think they can try it on and make a fortune out of it is debatable.

I don't get any pleasure from seeing Amazon get a spanking. Well I do, but not because of Amazon. Rather because I think the patent scheme has been systematically abused for decades, and it needs to change. I'm as pro-intellectual property rights as anyone, but a huge number of patents are abusive.

Patents at this point in time are way outdated. Even the CEO of Amazon at one point admitted to the ridiculousness of the system (referencing this very one click nonsense) but wasn't in the mood to fight the system so he just stuck with the vicious cycle.

Agreed.

i dont know the ins and outs of this patent but i remember BT sticking its oar in over links

"sorry but you clicking that folder to open it is very similar to our patented link sytem."

some software patents are utter nonsense, no matter how you code it its going to give the same result as another method ... ie reinventing the wheel

a+b*c
x+y*z
bloody same to me (unless the numbers are different that is)

lzw jpg png mp3 etc yes i understand ... but something like "add to basket" im surprised tesco didnt sue for using the "basket" brand name

Part of the problem is that it runs in circles: *because* companies have patented everything under the sun, other companies will do the same.

Many patents are purely for defensive use, kind of a mutally-assured-destruction.

e.g. IBM won't sue microsoft for violating their previous patent X because the second they do so, Microsoft can sue them back for violating a dozen of their patents, no matter how trivial they may sound.

Like it or not, pretty much *all* programs you could possible create violate dozens of patents. do you offer multiple user profiles? You now violate a patent. Do you have an on-screen control panel? You violate another one. Do you have little health-bars above your characters? Another one. Do you show how many lives the player has left? Violate another one. Do you allow the user to save the game in progress to resume later? You just violated another one.

do you use an atari joystic ;-)

Or a two button mouse?

Maybe even a one-button mouse (Mac users, anyone?).

All software patenting should be stopped; it's utter garbage.

Darkheart