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Originally Posted by Doc911
You know I've been a programmer for a long time and passing a variable is NOT a new idea its basic programming.. To say passing a variable for any specific reason is patentable is a joke. Its like saying I invented passing a variable to put you name on a web page.
any programmer knows that one.
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as a fellow programmer who was doing web development back in '95 i absolutely agree with you. The patent can be shredded apart by expert witness who could explain how passing of variables in the URL to a CGI script and doing something with it (like counter, etc) was "obvious".
Amazon has done a year's worth of research, and I am sure their own developers are saying the same thing, but at the stage of the court process that they are in, if they can show an affiiliate program before sep 1995 using a link with an affiliate identifier, then this patent case can be dismissed.
If they cannot find this mythical silver bullet, then they have to go to court and go through discovery and then court.. which after a few years and a few million dollars, they would unravel this patent.
During the time that amazon is tied up in courts, this BTG company can then go around and try to pick up others to license their patent, citing that Barnes&Nobles and Netflix licensed, and how they are now in court with Amazon.
While corporate america can certainly take care of itself, the problem is that corporate america does need the silver bullet to shoot down this beast of a patent infringement claim. If they aren't the ones holding the big gun, then it makes it harder for middle to small sized companies to carry the financial burden of going to court.
So there needs to be a clear demonstration of an affiliate program prior to Sept 1995, that comes through either the program owner or a programmer who can testify and document that such an occurence happened.
Fight the patent!