Amazon didn't just try to patent one-click purchasing. They actually hold said patent. They don't enforce it, largely because O'Reilly found prior art that co

Amazon didn't just try to patent one-click purchasing. They actually hold said patent. They don't enforce it, largely because O'Reilly found prior art that could destroy it if Amazon ever oversteps, but they do hold the patent. That's the central travesty here. Possibly if you're a patent attorney, you really do think purchasing with one click is a detailed and arcane technology the development of which is expensive enough to require a 20-year monopoly, but all that tells me is that patent attorneys are somewhat dim people who wouldn't understand productive work if it bit them in the face. Not that I have strong feelings or anything.