TheArchitect.co.uk - Jorgen Thelin's weblog
Enterprise technology for the real world.
A recent PC Magazine article entitled "Has Jeff Bezos Patented E-Mail Discussion Groups?" about US patent 6,525,747 raises some interesting questions for blogs. (emphasis added)
Last Tuesday, February, 25, the US Patent and Trademark Office issued a new patent to Jeff Bezos, the CEO of online retailer Amazon.com, granting him exclusive rights to "a method and system for conducting an electronic discussion relating to a topic".
The only significant difference between this patented system and existing e-mail discussion-group software is that the former is meant to facilitate e-commerce. The topic under discussion is always an item for sale, and each message contains a description of the item and a Web link that lets you purchase it.
Whether weblog postings and the follow-up comments system would fall into this patent definition is something only time and the courts will probably decide.
All content is
Copyright (c) 2010 Jorgen Thelin. All rights reserved.
The opinions expressed here represent my own views
and not necessarily those of my current, prior or future employer(s).
Content is provided "as-is", without any representations or warrenties of any kind.
Contents of the Weblog Feed are
licensed under a
Creative Commons License.
