Patent Suit Filed Against Amazon, Netflix

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117780,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117780,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div><i>"BTG, a London-based firm that focuses on intellectual property and technology commercialization, has filed suit against Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, and two other Internet companies for infringing on patents related to the tracking of users on the Web. The suit, filed in the U.S. Federal Court in Delaware, alleges that the companies use BTG's patented technology as part of their online marketing programs. The suit asks for unspecified damages for past infringement and injunctions against future use of the technology."</i><br /><br />This makes me sick - is it possible to do ANYTHING with technology anymore that doesn't infringe on a previous patent? :roll: I think you should be able to patent specific technologies, or implementations, but basic concepts? Insane!

[James Fee]

Well its like the JPEG problems I think you posted on a couple months ago. Eventually Congress will get around to fixing the problems, but not in our lifetime. Remember, Mickey Mouse should technically be in the Public Domain....

[Mojo Jojo]

It is the new business model. Letigation through bad patents. If you can't make money the old fashion way... take it from someone else.

While I agree patents are a useful thing in some instances, there has been a definate abuse with technology recently. However all that it ever seems to be done is people sitting around saying how bad it is.

These days if it doesn't envolve scandle, headlines, and sound bites politicans don't seem interested.