USPTO Increases Scope Of Amazon's 1-Click Patent

from the next,-up,-two-clicks dept

theodp writes "With its claims recently poo-pooed as old and well known and a separate reexam underway, it seemed unlikely that Amazon's 1-Click patent claims would be broadened anytime soon. But Amazon's thrice-rejected continuation application for 'Placing a Purchase Order Via a Communications Network' became U.S. patent no. 7,222,087 last week, adding innovative claims like contacting the recipient of an order via e-mail or a phone call to obtain additional info. How did it get approved? It apparently found its way into the hands of a sympathetic (and impatient) USPTO Examiner who had earlier defended his friends for approving 1-Click in the first place and referred 1-Click naysayers to a letter to the WSJ penned by the ex-Commissioner for Patents. That letter suggested that the failure of BountyQuest, a well-hyped company funded by 1-Click patent holder and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, to award an 'official' $10,000 bounty in a 2001 contest for 1-Click prior art was proof of the patent's novelty."

http://techdirt.com/articles/20070605/104036.shtml