Monday, October 17, 2011

Jeff Bezos and his weird Amazonian patents

Amazon is known for its astounding service and disruptive success but did you know that it’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is known for filing weird to borderline absurd patents for his site’s features? Here are some of them:

1-Click Ordering Patent

1-Click ordering—whose notorious patent was called by one law journal "probably the most memorable example of an unoriginal software patent." It forbids any other online retailer from using a one-click purchasing option without paying a royalty to Amazon.

 

Movement recognition as input mechanism patent

Customers may soon be able to make purchases simply by nodding their heads at their computer, Kindle or cellphone. Industry wags have dubbed it the "1-Nod patent."

Convert all gifts from Aunt Mildred patent

Last December, word leaked out about another new patent, for a system that enables people who get gifts through Amazon to return them even before they arrive. If Aunt Mildred has a habit of sending unwanted gifts, the patent says, the site will include an option to "convert all gifts from Aunt Mildred." (The patent includes the name of the presumably fictitious relative.) It allows the receiver to track when the well-meaning relative buys a gift for him and to change it to something more desirable before it ships. Gift recipients can also apply other rules such as, "No clothes with wool."

The idea is not only to please fussy would-be gift recipients; it also could save Amazon millions of dollars in purchases that don't have to be exchanged.

Source: WSJ, RICHARD L. BRANDT; One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com