Since they already patented cookies, why not patent scanning? Seems logical to me. Let's play a game, it's called "Name Something That Apple or Amazon Didn't Invent..." You go first.
Amazon was granted a patent on Tuesday by the USPTO that covers a technique for allowing users "to request access to one or more electronic images of pages in a physical text." If you think this sounds like Amazon Upgrade, you're right—and it could have ramifications for the Google Book Search project.
Patent 7,174,054 was submitted back in December 2003...
The Amazon system is "based on user ownership of the physical text," which in this case is verified by purchasing the book through Amazon. As Amazon notes in its filing, this is a new (but small) wrinkle in the Shirt of Obvious Ideas, and patent examiners apparently found it compelling enough to deserve protection.
:sigh:
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