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Amazon has patented the milkman, etc.

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Re: Amazon has patented the milkman, etc.

#5

And yet, Amazon only sells condensed milk and powdered milk, not fresh milk. [1] I really do like their 'Subscribe & Save' service though [2] (which is what the patent describes). [1] http://amzn.to/14KeLIH [2] http://www.amazon.com/gp/subscribe-and-save/details/

I don't know, this milk is pretty amazing.

http://www.amazon.com/Tuscan-Whole-Milk-Gallon-128/dp/B00032...

Re: Amazon has patented the milkman, etc.

#6
@FOSSpatents tweeted about this:

"The grant of this patent to Amazon renders me speechless. http://t.co/bMh7qwkh "Recurring Delivery of Products". prior art = milkman"

Usually he's rather supportive of most of the tech patents HN likes to deem "obvious", so if even he finds this astonishing, perhaps there really is something wrong here :)

Re: Amazon has patented the milkman, etc.

#7

And yet, Amazon only sells condensed milk and powdered milk, not fresh milk. [1] I really do like their 'Subscribe & Save' service though [2] (which is what the patent describes). [1] http://amzn.to/14KeLIH [2] http://www.amazon.com/gp/subscribe-and-save/details/

I don't know, this milk is pretty amazing. http://www.amazon.com/Tuscan-Whole-Milk-Gallon-128/dp/B00032...

Doesn't appear to be eligible for 'Subscribe & Save', but I love the meme anyways.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/technology/09milk.html?_r=...

Re: Amazon has patented the milkman, etc.

#8
post #2

"What is claimed is: 1. A computer-implemented method(...)" Mmm, I'm to young to have seen an actual milkman, but television never depicted them as "computer-implemented"

Yet if you carry on reading that section it also says, "identifying a product, a quantity to deliver, and a frequency of delivery"[1] - all delivery systems do that on a computer, even the milkman.

The patent they've been granted is extremely broad especially when you consider that a majority of delivery companies actually do what the patent says.

For instance, you can request a delivery slot and the majority of delivery systems identify the product, the quantity to deliver and the frequency of delivery. The patent they have been granted covers all aspects of that.

[1] http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sec...

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