|
What is a patent?
A patent is something issued by the United States Government
to signify that an inventor (or inventors) is the sole owner of a particular
mechanical design. U.S. patent law was designed to protect innovators by ensuring
that people who developed new machinery, such as the cotton gin or
the A.M. radio, could prevent others from stealing their designs without
paying for them.
What is a software patent?
Computer software didn't exist (nor did computers) at the
time when the concept of a patent was originally conceived. However,
in the recent past, the United States Patent Office has started granting
patents on computer software, even though no steps were taken to ensure
that the concept of patents worked well in the realm of computer software.
What is wrong with software patents?
There isn't anything inherently wrong with the concept of a software
patent. What is wrong is how U.S. parent law has been repeatedly misused
by unscrupulous companies in order to unfairly hinder their competition.
What has happened over the past few decades is that the United States
Patent Office, and the corresponding court system, has not been well
enough informed about the workings of computer software to judge whether
or not certain software patents are valid. Many companies sensed
this problem, and decided to exploit it. Amazon.com is simply the latest
in a long line of cowardly companies who have decided to hide behind their
lawyers rather than compete fairly on the open market.
For more information about the danger of software patents, read
Against Software Patents by the League for Programming Freedom.
What is the patent Amazon.com is trying to enforce?
Amazon.com patented the concept of "1-click ordering", which means
storing a customer's billing information so that they do not have to
enter it every time they purchase something. This is not a valid patent,
because in order for a patent to be valid, U.S. patent law states that
the patented method must not be obvious to an expert in the relevant field.
Not only would 1-click ordering clearly be obvious to any expert in
Internet commerce software, but it the very method relies on a construct
called a "cookie", developed by Netscape,
to enable Internet services such as 1-click ordering. If you would like
to read the text of the patent yourself, it is available from the
IBM Patent Server
as Patent #US5960411.
Even if you are not very familiar with computer software or the internet, we
still think you'll be shocked that such a patent was ever granted.
If Amazon.com's patent is invalid, why was the patent granted?
Simple: the United States Patent Office doesn't know enough about
computer software. Amazon.com's patent is ludicrous to any expert
in computer software - but the Patent Office never asked computer software
experts to review the patent. They simply don't have the resources or
the manpower to do that, given the overwhelming number of patent requests they
receive each year. So, they granted the patent, figuring that if it
really is invalid, it will be invalidated in a court of law. Unfortunately,
that means some unfortunate competitor to amazon.com
will have to pay enormous legal fees to defend themselves in a legal suit.
That competitor happens to be Barnes & Noble.
How should we boycott Amazon.com?
In the free market, we vote with our money. The way to teach
Amazon.com a lesson, and send a strong message to all Internet commerce
businesses, is to buy only from companies who do not sue over bogus software
patents. All you need to do is stop typing amazon.com, and start typing
noamazon.com. The links at the top of our page will get you to an
internet commerce company that does not sue over software patents, and that
sells the exact same merchandise as amazon.com.
The main page has more details.
|