Another Word For It Patrick Durusau on Topic Maps and Semantic Diversity

May 8, 2014

Patents Aren’t What They Used To Be

Filed under: Patents — Patrick Durusau @ 7:31 pm

US Patent Office Grants ‘Photography Against A White Background’ Patent To Amazon

I can remember when “having” a patent was a mark of real distinction.

Now, not so much.

See the post for the details but Amazon’s patent for photographs against a white background can be violated by your:

How does this breakthrough work in practice? Glad you asked.

1. Turn back lights on.
2. Turn front lights on.
3. Position thing on platform.
4. Take picture.

Now, we’ll note that in all fairness (HAHAHAHA), Amazon filed this application back in the early days of photography, circa 2011. Nearly three years later, that foresight has paid off, and Amazon can now corner the market on taking pictures in front of a white background.

The patent itself, US 8,676,045. Another blog post: You Can Close The Studio, Amazon Patents Photographing On Seamless White

Amazon does a lot of really cool stuff so I am hopeful that:

  1. Amazon will donate US 8,676,045 to the public domain.
  2. Fire whoever was responsible for this farce. Without consequences for abuse of the patent system by staff of companies who do have legitimate IP, the patent system will continue to deteriorate.

I knew I should have filed to patent addition last year! 😉

1 Comment

  1. […] USPTO, which recently issued a patent for taking a photograph against a white background, isn’t going to help fix the patent […]

    Pingback by “Dear Piece of Shit…” « Another Word For It — May 18, 2014 @ 2:44 pm

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