Last month the Federal Court of Appeal issued its reasons in the Amazon.com “one-click” patent case. Since the Court of Appeal directed the Commissioner to revisit Amazon.com’s application, it was not clear whether or not the patent was eligible subject matter.[1] The decision of the Court of Appeal left many questions unanswered.
It appears that the Patent Office has now determined that Amazon.com’s patent application, “Method and System For Placing A Purchase Order Via A Communication Network” (Canadian Patent Application No. 2,246,933), is eligible subject matter. Patent Office records show that following an amendment made on December 22, 2011 a Notice of Allowance was issued on December 23, 2011. The records also show that the Final Fee was paid on December 28, 2011.
The issuance of the “one-click” patent may be just what Amazon.com and the Patent office wanted. However, for members of the public who wanted the law related to business method and software patents clarified, it is a missed opportunity to have the Supreme Court weigh in on this critically important issue.
[1] See, Federal Court of Appeal Sends Amazon One-Click Patent Application Back to Commissioner of Patents
2 comments
Similar systems were in use in 1985. Therefor the issuance of this patent both in the United States and Canada is a case of fraud by the Amazon, aided and abetted by the governments of both countries.
If you wish, I can email you copies of the software. I still have them archived.
Wayne
Geez Wayne. It’s not fraud if the patent examiner can’t or didn’t find the prior art. It would only be fraud if they did find it and didn’t rely upon it in the examination process. Any member of the public can submit prior art during (and after) examination of a US or CDN patent application. Why didn’t you?