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einhorn303
Joined: 20 Nov 2006
Posts: 1180
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 Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 9:28 pm
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It seems this would only have any meaning for DRM-ed digital products, and I don't buy anything with DRM.
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walw6pK4Alo
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
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Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 10:33 pm
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I guess it makes the prospect of buying digital products a little easier to swallow. Guess we'll have to see how it works out and what kind of value you can actually get back.
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mdo7
Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6358
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 12:32 am
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| Spotlesseden wrote: | | Amazon is freaking smart. I guess amazon will kill of gamestop soon. |
Or Gamestop could do something similar.
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gsilver
Joined: 04 Nov 2007
Posts: 645
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 12:46 am
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How can they patent something that is already a legal mandate in Europe?
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Mirri
Joined: 12 Aug 2007
Posts: 313
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 7:07 am
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| gsilver wrote: | | How can they patent something that is already a legal mandate in Europe? |
Because this is a U.S. patent.
Also, as has been posted before, wow is the U.S. patent system fubar.
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One-Eye
Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2264
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 10:13 am
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Some of the Amazon music contains what they call a "purchase identifier" which includes an ID number, that it was downloaded from Amazon, etc. Its not DRM as it wont stop you from playing the music, but I suspect that its a means of tracking where the music goes. Its possible they may do this with all digital products. I guess then this ID would get removed from your digital account and transferred to the new owner.
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sunflower
Joined: 04 Sep 2005
Posts: 1080
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 10:03 pm
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This is excellent. It's a step toward making digital content ours as opposed to being rented. And it allows us to sell all those books sitting on our Kindles that we no longer want, not to mention will let us try new authors with cheaper versions, just like used paper books let us.
As for patenting the idea, it's not ridiculous as some have said. There has to be an implementation of the idea and that's what's being patented. And once Amazon gets this running for the Kindle they'll have a huge advantage over other ebook readers and formats, because none of those have resales.
They're smart, and I can't wait for this.
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Kalessin
Joined: 15 Aug 2007
Posts: 931
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 2:21 am
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| sunflower wrote: | | As for patenting the idea, it's not ridiculous as some have said. There has to be an implementation of the idea and that's what's being patented. |
Software patents and business method patents (among others) don't really patent an implementation. They really are just patenting an idea. Take Amazon's One-Click patent for instance (which fortunately was finally thrown at in court), it patents the idea of making it so that you can do the entire checkout process in an online store in one-click. It had nothing to do with how Amazon implemented it. Pratically all it takes is to present an idea that's "on a computer," and the patent office will let you patent it. Patents like this don't really mean anything and would almost certainly be thrown out in court. The problem is that the only way to get them thrown out is in court, and that process is often so expensive that other companies will pay for patent licensing just because it's cheaper than paying for the whole court process, even if it's an obviously ridiculous patent. That's how Microsoft makes more money off of Android than Windows phones. They've kept threatening to sue companies who produce Android phones, and the law suits would cost so much that they just pay up regardless of whether there's any validity to Microsoft's patents at all. It's extortion. That is the sort of thing that patents are used for these days. It's ridiculous. While the idea behind this particular patent may be a good one, the fact that it was patented certainly isn't good. It's pretty much never good news when something in the tech industry is patented.
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