Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Amazon patents continued...

Author:Nick Sweeney
Posted:3/7/2000; 2:16:57 PM
Topic:Amazon patents continued...
Msg #:15439
Prev/Next:15438 / 15440

Joe Galli, Amazon's COO (thanks for the correction), was just on CNBC's "Internet Investor" segment, and I managed to send in an question about Amazon's patent strategy and the current boycott. His reply? That "like GE", Amazon's engineers have the right to protect their innovations, if they're considered patentable. The "considered" is the interesting thing: a tacit recognition that Amazon have mastered the patent application process, by exploiting the naivety of the USPTO, rather than the technologies themselves.

Of course, Amazon's patents are nothing like GE's. Although you could argue that there's a historical similarity: Thomas Edison was much better at patents than actual innovation.

(Interestingly, the CNBC anchor didn't know about the boycott, so it was useful publicity. Time for a few press releases from noamazon.com, perhaps?)

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