Amazon gets patents on consumer reviews

[spikedo]

This is totally off the wall!

http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3563396

 

[jberryhill]

when a small developer starts becoming a threat to a big fish who owns lots of patents.

...then it's time to cut a deal.

I know that the Perry Mason courtroom drama image of what lawyers do is pretty well embedded in folk's imagination, so I'm probably spitting in the wind to try to convey how mundane it usually is to find a win-win, which is where most disputes end up. The dramatic win-lose results are dramatic because they are exceptional.

Patents are not all-purpose magic amulets. If you've managed to grow to be a threat, you are not coming to the table empty-handed simply if you have no patents. You have something else of value.

 

[OvenMitt]

Patent fun:
http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05443036__


I'll be derned if 1,000's of these little buggers aren't marketed every day.


What's more, think "game theory" when it comes to the win-win as described above. Everyone comes out better if the "big guy" just buys the "little guy".

 

[bluesman]

I don't doubt for a minute that these recent moves by Amazon to "patent" reviews by their own readers (ie making money off their comments without paying them) are a direct result of them taking a financial bath on the market in the last few years.

Can you say total desperation?