where do you buy your books?

[Michael J. Barillier]

On Tue, 15 Feb 2000, Tim Chambers wrote:

> "Michael J. Barillier" <blackwolf at pcisys.net> wrote:
> >... except that everyone really should boycott Amazon (in case it wasn't
> >brought up before).
> 
> Why?

They've obtained a ridiculous patent on "1-click shopping", patenting what
is essentially the process of storing a cookie on the user's browser so he
doesn't have to re-enter credit card information on subsequent purchases.
Oddly enough, though this technique is used in countless websites, their
first and so far (AFAIK) only lawsuit has been against their direct
competitor Barnes & Noble.  The biggest threat to software and software
development is that they could abuse the patent (as though they haven't
already) by, essentially, claiming ownership of any technology related to
cookies.

See http://linuxtoday.com/story.php3?sn=13652

-- mjb

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Michael J. Barillier  email: blackwolf at pcisys.net

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