Amazon has extended its controversial patent on “1-Click” shopping to include items bought as gifts for others.
The original 1999 patent allowed customers to purchase products with just one click after entering their address and credit card details for upfront storage. but drew fire including a boycott when Amazon sued rival Barnes & Noble for using a similar method.
Since then, Amazon has gone on to license the 1-Click method to the likes of Apple for its Apple Store, iTunes Store and iPhoto services.
The new patent was filed in 1998 but only granted last month and concerns the…
…”method in a computer system for coordinating the delivery of a gift given by a gift giver to a recipient, the method comprising: automatically receiving an order from the gift giver” etc.
The patent states delivery information can be obtained from…
…”sources that include an internet-based telephone database, an internet-based electronic mail database, a local telephone database, a local electronic mail database, a database of previous recipients and gift givers, an internet-based search engine, and a database of information relating to the domain name registration of an electronic mail address of the recipient”.
The 1-Click method is one of the most used e-commerce processes in the world, but the original controversy has not disappeared.
Using funds raised by his blog readers, a New Zealand actor last year sought a re-examination of the patent and the case is ongoing.