to all of patent-loving extropians:

Timothy Bates (tbates@karri.bhs.mq.edu.au)
Wed, 13 Oct 1999 20:14:30 +1000

If you think patents are wonderful and needed to help all those poor inventors get a start, what do you think of this? All patents are absurd, but this one just shows why.

> Amazon.com Receives Patent for 1-Click Shopping
> from the attack-of-the-dumb-patents dept.
> "It looks like Amazon has patented the storing of credit-card and shipping
> info and then using it to facilate online purchasing via a single click.

Do you reall ythink that the idea of clicking a button to buy something needs patent protection for someone to invent it?

The only people who need the protection are the companies with 200 and 300 PE ratios running to cover their arses.

buy your books from www.booksamillion.com - they are cheaper anyhow. tim


''The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.''

James Madison
Annals of Congress 434 (1789).