Amazon.com sued Barnes & Noble.com in 1999, alleging
infringement of its business method patent by allowing its
customers to make repeat purchases in a similar method to that
described in the patent. Barnes & Noble.com argued that the
patent should be declared invalid. Patents for business methods are
impossible to obtain in most countries, but valid in the US.
Critics of Amazon.com’s patent have long argued that it gives
the company an unfair monopoly on what amounts to little more than
an efficient means of using standard technology. The risk, they
point out, is that other web sites must make their shopping systems
deliberately less efficient to avoid infringement, which in effect
stifles e-commerce.
Currently, Barnes & Noble.com customers require a minimum of
two clicks of the mouse to make a purchase. The company changed its
single-click system to comply with a court injunction obtained
against it by Amazon.com. Later, Barnes & Noble.com won a
repeal of that injunction pending the resolution of the court case,
but it did not return to the single-click system.
Many observers of the case will be disappointed that the
companies have settled, rather than going to court and obtaining
judicial guidance on what is an important and highly controversial
area of e-commerce law.
In a joint statement, the companies said that the terms of the
settlement are confidential.
