[Yams-discuss] Your Product and Amazon's Patent

[Greg L. <gl...@me...>]

Dear Sirs:

Please excuse the intrusion on your list, but I think you'll agree that
this is an issue that warrants all of our attention.

I'm sure that you're aware that Amazon.com has been issued a patent on
the very simple feature of using a cookie to place an order.  Their
application date was September 1997. As a developer in this area, you
probably were ahead of them in developing this simple capability.

I'm trying to organize knowledgeable software engineers to show how
ridiculous this patent is, and to strike a blow against the entire
software patent process.  There is a discussion going on in
misc.int-property where a lawyer has challenged software engineers to
publish the prior art that proves this patent is invalid.  If we can do
so, he has offered to represent us for free in the reexamination
process.  

Any help that you can provide that proves that you knew about this
technique prior to Amazon's patent would be greatly appreciated. 
Ideally, the prior art would be in the form of magazine articles, open
source software with copyright dates, textbooks, etc.  It would be
particular useful if your product had this feature before they applied
for their patent and you were using it in commerce.
 
Of course, you can ignore this request and decide whether or not Amazon
will be coming after *you* next.

---------------------
Greg Leman
President
Metagenix, Inc.
1800 W. Martin Luther King Pkwy
Suite 101
Durham, NC 27707
http://www.metagenix.com