Click Click Boom

Kiwi Peter Calveley has defeated Amazon.com, and the company's patent on 1-Click has been mostly turn up. Some background:

Amazon.com's 1-Click patent became famous when it sued rival bookseller Barnes & Noble.com in 1999. It alleged infringement for allowing B&N customers to make repeat purchases just by clicking on a product. B&N argued that the patent should be declared invalid but a court imposed an injunction, requiring it to change its shopping process. The companies later agreed settlement terms. Amazon.com has since licensed the patent to other retailers, including Apple.

Calveley's victory:

There are 26 claims in Amazon.com's patent for Method and system for placing a purchase order via a communications network, better known as its 1-Click patent. Only five of the claims – numbered six to 10 – have been deemed "patentable and/or confirmed". Twenty-one others were rejected.

Read the whole tale: It's ridiculous what Amazon was claiming, and it makes you wonder who, exactly, Barnes and Noble hired to represent them in their 1999 suit. Calveley's blog is here.