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Amazon in patent dispute over 1-click shopping
A panel from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has rejected most of Amazon’s 1-click online purchasing system patent claims because evidence suggests that another patent predates this one.
The panel reversed an earlier decision approving the patent claims and remanded it back to the patent examiner.
The patent was then re-examined after New Zealand actor Peter Calveley challenged it last year. Writing in his blog, Calveley has said 'Amazon has the opportunity to respond to the Patent Office's rejection, but third-party requests for re-examination, like the one I filed, result in having the subject patent either modified or completely revoked about two-thirds of the time'.
Amazon's 1-Click system allows account holders to make a purchase with a single mouse click. The patent was granted in 1998, and Amazon went to court the following year to block Barnes & Noble from using a similar one-click checkout system. The case was later settled out of court.
Amazon has an official policy not to comment on patent applications outside of legal filings, but did state that 'we expect to file a response to this initial action by the deadline of December 9'.
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