O'Reilly -- Ask Tim: Open Source, Patents and O'Reilly

"I have struggled with this issue since RMS first approached me to sign on to his campaign. I've declined to urge a boycott because I do think that Amazon provides an incredible service, and one that many of our customers find valuable. At the same time, I completely agree with RMS that the Amazon 1-Click Patent is one more example of an "intellectual property" milieu gone mad."

"In the first place, this patent should have never been allowed. It's a completely trivial application of cookies, a technology that was introduced several years before Amazon filed for their patent."

"I also want to say that a patent on something like "1-Click ordering" is a slap in the face of Tim Berners-Lee and all of the other pioneers who created the opportunity that Amazon has done such a good job of exploiting. Amazon wouldn't have existed without the generosity of people like Tim, who made legitimate, far-reaching inventions, and put them out into the public domain for all to build upon."

Complete story.

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• CNET News.com/AP: Amazon patents affiliate programs technology(Feb 27, 2000)
• Technology Review: Software Patents Tangle the Web(Feb 20, 2000)
• sendmail.net: Q&A: Bruce Perens on Patents and Politics(Feb 15, 2000)
• EE Times: High-tech looks to profit from patents(Jan 31, 2000)
• TheStandard: Patent Problems(Jan 26, 2000)
• ZDNet: How Patent Attorneys Are Stealing Our Future(Jan 18, 2000)
• UPDATED: Richard Stallman -- Boycott Amazon!(Dec 22, 1999)