Amazon granted patent on taking photographs with a white background - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Mr Smiley
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2014, 03:35:26 pm
content: Hi,I know it's not quite on topic, but would you believe ithttp://jonathanturley.org/2014/05/10/picture-this-us-patent-office-grants-amazon-photography-against-a-white-background-patent/#more-78984

author: rexxar
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2014, 03:47:32 pm
content: Move along, there's nothing to see here.The US patent system is perfect and utiopian.There is no corruption, patents are granted on direct word from God.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2014, 03:54:26 pm
content: It has practically zero impact. Amazon or anyone can have any patents they want. End of the day, people will litigate and that's where real patents are validated.If you want patent reform, a few tips:1) abolish patent laws and patent offices;2) any patent is automatically granted;3) in a patent litigation, the loser pays the winner's legal fees and 100x of the damage sought.Now, no one is his right mind will seek to enforce this kind of "patents".

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 12:07:04 pm
content: Quote from: dannyf on May 11, 2014, 03:54:26 pmExcept that people (non-corporate entities) typically can't afford the litigation process. So many absurd patents stand as threats, simply because of the disparity between corporate and private resources.QuotePretty much completely agree. Except I'd go further and abolish corporate personhood too. The legal concept of 'ownership' shouldn't be allowed to attach to anything but natural living human beings.Anyway, more patent absurdity:http://lav.io/2014/05/transform-any-text-into-a-patent-application/Transform any text into a patent application

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 02:40:09 pm
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on May 12, 2014, 12:07:04 pmYou mean governments cannot own a thing? That's an interesting concept.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 02:50:08 pm
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on May 12, 2014, 12:07:04 pmThat ridiculous concept is pretty much the root cause of all of America's problems.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 03:20:21 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on May 12, 2014, 02:50:08 pmDave, thanks for your frequent advices to us, Americans, on how to run our business. It's greatly appreciated and we all look forward for it. ;-)

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 03:46:38 pm
content: Some one should take out a patent in the US for selling items on the internet and then posting or otherwise delivering said items to the purchaser. That would make Amazon weep.

author: staxquad
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 03:53:55 pm
content: Quote from: zapta on May 12, 2014, 03:20:21 pmyou'd have a point, if the USA was not meddling militarily, politically (NED, NGOs, State Department, CIA, WTO, NATO, UN) and economically (IMF, Wall Street, Copyright, Patents etc) in every other countryyou think we should take everything you dish out without complaint?

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 04:12:40 pm
content: Quick someone patent filming video on a green background! We will sue all of Hollywood and those pesky weathermen/women!

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 04:13:15 pm
content: Quote from: staxquad on May 12, 2014, 03:53:55 pmGood point. Next time when somebody asks for help (e.g. Ukraine, Nigeria, France) we will refer them to the Canadian government.

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 04:21:41 pm
content: Quote from: zapta on May 12, 2014, 04:13:15 pmI thought the one at Ukraine that is begging for money from the west, is one of CIA's employee, self appointed as the new Ukraine 's president ?... j/k

author: ecat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 04:38:09 pm
content: Quote from: zapta on May 12, 2014, 04:13:15 pmAw, you edited your postIt originally readQuoteAnd I had a whole spiel prepared about exploding wallabies, kangaroos with machine guns and the terror of boomerang artillery. Now you go for Canadians. Canadians? I cannot think of anything funny to say about CanadiansOT:I'm taking out a patent on Nationalism:The exploitation and corruption of national pride for the sake the political and commercial goals.

author: scientist
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 06:12:45 pm
content: The patent is worthless. Deal with it.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 06:34:31 pm
content: Quote from: ecat on May 12, 2014, 04:38:09 pmSorry, already patented.

author: KJDS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 08:05:37 pm
content: The US PTO has been broke for a long long time. I can't recall the last I looked at a patent and thought, that's actually original and not obvious to someone skilled in the art.

author: grumpydoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 08:16:27 pm
content: QuoteUtterly broken IMO - I wonder, though, what Amazon's motivation really was.

author: staxquad
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 11:16:48 pm
content: Quote from: zapta on May 12, 2014, 04:13:15 pmAssistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, key organizations in the Ukraine including the Neo-Nazi party Svoboda were generously supported by Washington: “We have invested more than 5 billion dollars to help Ukraine to achieve these and other goals. … We will continue to promote Ukraine to the future it deserves.”Would you not prefer that your tax dollars go to benefit Americans in America (fix crumbling infrastructure, assist crumbling cities, assist citizens) rather than overthrowing elected governments to be replaced by the Svoboda Party (National Socialists, NAZI for short) with little popular support (10.44% of the electorate).Boggles the mind that Americans support supporting NAZIS.And US foreign aid is mostly subversion, keeping the puppets in power and back door profiteering.Edit: you can't make this stuff up, The Farce Is Complete.http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-13/farce-complete-joe-bidens-son-joins-board-largest-ukraine-gas-producerJoe Biden's Son Joins Board Of Largest Ukraine Gas Producer.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2014, 11:54:21 pm
content: Quote from: AcHmed99 on May 12, 2014, 04:28:44 pmBy your previous post this qualifies as 'meddling in Louisiana' ;-)And yes, we appreciate the 911 help.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2014, 12:01:40 am
content: Quote from: ecat on May 12, 2014, 04:38:09 pmMy father used to tell me about the WWII Australian soldiers marching in the streets, he was a kid and admired them. IIRC they have different hats and was easy to tell apart from the British. I guess they were meddling in other countries. ;-)

author: smashedProton
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2014, 12:41:18 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on May 12, 2014, 02:50:08 pmI agree, but fiat currency is a close second.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2014, 12:47:24 am
content: Well, I'll just use an eggshell white background then.

author: ejeffrey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2014, 04:51:57 am
content: Quote from: dannyf on May 11, 2014, 03:54:26 pmYou say that, amazon previously patented the "one click" ordering, successfully defended it in court, and has now licensed it to Apple. Insanely stupid and unjustifiable patents have *hugely* detrimental impact both directly and indirectly. It is not even the point of "patents are a good system with some abuses that need addressing" The patent system is broken, and while there might be a patent system that would be good, what we have now is worse than nothing and getting worse every year.

author: DrGeoff
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2014, 05:42:36 am
content: Prior knowledge.The use of white backgrounds in photography have been used prior to Amazon declaring that this is their 'invention'. So prior knowledge renders the 'patent' unusable.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2014, 05:56:38 am
content: Quote from: smashedProton on May 13, 2014, 12:41:18 amFiat currency is something of a secondary effect of the granting of legal standing for corporate personhood, which enabled the rise in political & economic power of private banks. To the point where they could manipulate governments into handing over a monopoly on creation of currency (as debt), to the private banking cartels. Like the US FED.Instead of debt-free currency creation and coin minting being a public service by the government, as it was supposed to be per the US constitution.Now wait for someone to claim that the FED isn't a privately owned corporate bank.Btw, I wasn't singling out the USA re corporate personhood. It's a global problem.On the topic of the socially chilling effect of 'information ownership' (patents, copyright, etc) here's an interesting view:http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/no-copyright-law-the-real-reason-for-germany-s-industrial-expansion-a-710976.htmlNo Copyright Law - The Real Reason for Germany's Industrial Expansion? By Frank Thadeuszhttp://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/xh4rh/no_copyright_law_the_real_reason_for_germanys/?limit=500Edit to add:Quote from: DrGeoff on May 13, 2014, 05:42:36 amThat's not the way the patent law works. The patent is perfectly usable to extort royalties, and obliterate small startups by threat of costly legal action, right up until someone takes Amazon to court (at huge expense) and WINS a case to void the patent on the grounds of prior usage.Companies take out absurd patents like this, knowing full well they are absurd, but also in calculated understanding of how much advantage the patent will give them. They will use it against opponents to extort sums of money adjusted to be slightly less than the cost of a legal challenge. This is the way patent trolls work.And will keep working, until the laws are changed to make patent trolling a guaranteed massive losing proposition for the trolls.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2014, 05:57:38 am
content: Quote from: AcHmed99 on May 12, 2014, 04:28:44 pmDarn Canadians! You guys so politely steal our ideas!

author: SirNick
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2014, 08:20:01 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on May 12, 2014, 02:50:08 pmOh, no, good sir... we have many and varied problems. Patents are merely one of them.It's like dying of heart failure when you have diabetes, liver disease, lung cancer, herpes, and a broken nose.