4 ms·

What other tech patents did we somewhat resent being patented that are now expired? I'm also thinking about the click wheel; I got one of my kids a knockoff iP

What other tech patents did we somewhat resent being patented that are now expired? I'm also thinking about the click wheel; I got one of my kids a knockoff iPod for Christmas last year. Can other e-commerce sites legally "one-click" to purchase like Amazon now?!?

nemomarx 1mo ago
Back in 2017 - https://patents.google.com/patent/US5960411A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US5960411A/en Although I don't see a lot of other sites using it. You'd think Shopify would?
- jakevoytko 1mo ago
  I worked at Etsy when it expired and the execs got this question a lot. The TL;DR is that the expected outcome is that it massively increases the support burden (wait I didn't mean to click that; wait I actually need to send it to another address; wait I didn't realize shipping was a hundred dollars) without really enabling more sales. So it was a neat idea and worth trying when ecommerce was new, but now we know enough about ecommerce to know that the user has to confirm details of their purchase.
  - dabinat 1mo ago
    I always thought the physical buttons Amazon used to offer were interesting. The idea is that if you’re at an office and you have reams of paper stored near the printer, you put a button next to them. Then whoever grabs the last one hits the button and it automatically orders more. But I’d imagine they discontinued them precisely for the reasons you describe.
  - Paul_Clayton 1mo ago
    Would having prominent "cancel order" and/or "edit order" buttons and delayed payment processing have sufficiently reduced the support costs for such cases? (I am guessing not since such is an obvious method of providing a fast/easy default with a somewhat easy undo, but sometimes the obvious is missed or turns out to add problems -- like people seeing a prominent "edit/cancel order" and assuming it meant 'confirm/place order' as used by every other site.)
manarth 1mo ago
> "Can other e-commerce sites legally "one-click" to purchase like Amazon now?" Amazon doesn't use one-click any more. The closest it gets is "Buy now", which is two clicks from item page to purchase.
- polonbike 1mo ago
  The fact that they don't use it has nothing to do with the availability of the patented process. I don't think Amazon will just say : "You guys can have it, we don't use it anyway"
  - breakyerself 1mo ago
    I think their point was that it's not a good feature if even the owner doesn't use it. So there's no reason to copy it regardless of patent status.
- leptons 1mo ago
  "Add to upcoming delivery" is a one-click purchase.
jmyeet 1mo ago
The GIF patent is a big one [1]. It's the entire reason we got PNG as a format. [1]: https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/projects/lpf/Patents/Gif/Gif.html https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/projects/lpf/Patents/Gif/Gi...
- CharlesW 1mo ago
  Fun fact: The working group initially chose 'PING' as the name, for "PING is not GIF".
Symmetry 1mo ago
The patent making Lenovo's Trackpoints better than imitators (US5570111A) expired back in 2020 but everybody keeps making touchpad-only laptops. :/
- SoMomentary 1mo ago
  I'm unfortunately really unimpressed with the Trackpoints coming out of Lenovo today. I have a brand new ThinkPad that suffers from drift everyday, so it's easy for me to see why other companies aren't including Trackpoints on their products.
  - cung 1mo ago
    I’d argue it’s a superior mouse even with the drift, even though I agree that the drift is annoying and am amazed they have not been able to fix it all these years.
    - SoMomentary 1mo ago
      I still use it everyday, but it is definitely a love/hate relationship. I imagine I'll switch to an ergonomic keyboard with trackpoint someday soon.
  - ornornor 1mo ago
    There is no good Lenovo hardware anymore. It’s been completely swallowed by the Chinese company that bought it, and even the formerly “noble”/enterprise lines are junk now. Same as HP.
  - 100percentjake 1mo ago
    Much less "today", I have horrible chronic drift problems with my 2019-era X1 Gen 7, which is super disappointing.
bragr 1mo ago
3D printing patents mostly expired circa 2010-2015 which is why we have affordable consumer 3D printers today
hgoel 1mo ago
MP3! I remember that one being frustrating prior to the patent's expiry.
vincnetas 1mo ago
now we have one click buy with apple pay basically
robtherobber 1mo ago
A community-sourced website to track these would be amazing.
- Brendinooo 1mo ago
  Yes!!

nemomarx 1mo ago

Back in 2017 - https://patents.google.com/patent/US5960411A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US5960411A/en Although I don't see a lot of other sites using it. You'd think Shopify would?

jakevoytko 1mo ago
I worked at Etsy when it expired and the execs got this question a lot. The TL;DR is that the expected outcome is that it massively increases the support burden (wait I didn't mean to click that; wait I actually need to send it to another address; wait I didn't realize shipping was a hundred dollars) without really enabling more sales. So it was a neat idea and worth trying when ecommerce was new, but now we know enough about ecommerce to know that the user has to confirm details of their purchase.
- dabinat 1mo ago
  I always thought the physical buttons Amazon used to offer were interesting. The idea is that if you’re at an office and you have reams of paper stored near the printer, you put a button next to them. Then whoever grabs the last one hits the button and it automatically orders more. But I’d imagine they discontinued them precisely for the reasons you describe.
- Paul_Clayton 1mo ago
  Would having prominent "cancel order" and/or "edit order" buttons and delayed payment processing have sufficiently reduced the support costs for such cases? (I am guessing not since such is an obvious method of providing a fast/easy default with a somewhat easy undo, but sometimes the obvious is missed or turns out to add problems -- like people seeing a prominent "edit/cancel order" and assuming it meant 'confirm/place order' as used by every other site.)

manarth 1mo ago

> "Can other e-commerce sites legally "one-click" to purchase like Amazon now?" Amazon doesn't use one-click any more. The closest it gets is "Buy now", which is two clicks from item page to purchase.

polonbike 1mo ago
The fact that they don't use it has nothing to do with the availability of the patented process. I don't think Amazon will just say : "You guys can have it, we don't use it anyway"
- breakyerself 1mo ago
  I think their point was that it's not a good feature if even the owner doesn't use it. So there's no reason to copy it regardless of patent status.
leptons 1mo ago
"Add to upcoming delivery" is a one-click purchase.

jmyeet 1mo ago

The GIF patent is a big one [1]. It's the entire reason we got PNG as a format. [1]: https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/projects/lpf/Patents/Gif/Gif.html https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/projects/lpf/Patents/Gif/Gi...

CharlesW 1mo ago
Fun fact: The working group initially chose 'PING' as the name, for "PING is not GIF".

Symmetry 1mo ago

The patent making Lenovo's Trackpoints better than imitators (US5570111A) expired back in 2020 but everybody keeps making touchpad-only laptops. :/

SoMomentary 1mo ago
I'm unfortunately really unimpressed with the Trackpoints coming out of Lenovo today. I have a brand new ThinkPad that suffers from drift everyday, so it's easy for me to see why other companies aren't including Trackpoints on their products.
- cung 1mo ago
  I’d argue it’s a superior mouse even with the drift, even though I agree that the drift is annoying and am amazed they have not been able to fix it all these years.
  - SoMomentary 1mo ago
    I still use it everyday, but it is definitely a love/hate relationship. I imagine I'll switch to an ergonomic keyboard with trackpoint someday soon.
- ornornor 1mo ago
  There is no good Lenovo hardware anymore. It’s been completely swallowed by the Chinese company that bought it, and even the formerly “noble”/enterprise lines are junk now. Same as HP.
- 100percentjake 1mo ago
  Much less "today", I have horrible chronic drift problems with my 2019-era X1 Gen 7, which is super disappointing.

bragr 1mo ago

3D printing patents mostly expired circa 2010-2015 which is why we have affordable consumer 3D printers today

hgoel 1mo ago

MP3! I remember that one being frustrating prior to the patent's expiry.

vincnetas 1mo ago

now we have one click buy with apple pay basically

robtherobber 1mo ago

A community-sourced website to track these would be amazing.

Brendinooo 1mo ago
Yes!!