Rant warning!
Okay, I know that the lawsuit was news a while back, but the NY Times article (see link below) today made my blood boil.
This is all so ridiculous! When referring to the “Buy It Now” feature, they call it a “technology”.
What? A technology? It’s not a technology, it’s a link/button to make a purchase. Links and link-images have been around forever. And some even allow the purchase of something. It’s not a novel idea.
Some will say, “but it is used to end an auction by buying it out and this is a unique business process” or some similar BS. And that’s what it is: BS!
Lookout World of Warcraft…your “buyout” feature at the auction house will be next on the chopping block!
It has a patent? It’s all just so crazy. It really is time to eliminate patents on software. Especially something that is so…well…basic and “normal”.
It’s like the “one-click check out” with Amazon a while back. So what. An express lane. Wooohooo. Does it need a patent?
All these companies are causing problems with their patents for simple actions that should just be common “property”.
Hang in there with this: I’m an old timer in internet time. I was over a project many years ago that created the first (as far as I know, I could be wrong) credit card accepting internet “mall” (short-sightedness back then) on the internet. 1200/2400 bps modems where the average. We had “create your own music CDs” online (bandwidth didn’t allow for download) and song snippets, and many more features that were bleeding edge for the time. My point: nobody even considered selfishly trying to horde and patent every little “push this button” process.
Big business comes along and screws up a great many things.
Should people and companies be paid for their efforts? YES!
Should people and companies create a limited and hostile environment so that it stifles progress, hurts the “little guy”, and create even more litigation in this already over-litigious society…especially when what is at issue is a simple and common sense process? NO!
NY Times story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/technology/29ebay.html?ref=technology
__END_OF_RANT 🙂
Update: It looks like the supreme court is hearing a case dealing with “business method” patents. Although the case isn’t dealing with something as simple as the “one-click” or “buy it now” features, it just might at least start the nail into the coffin. We’ll see.
NY Times blog link: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/new-patentable-idea-a-way-to-invalidate-vague-patents/index.html?ref=technology