Amazon has a patent on 1-click shopping!
It might sound silly, but whenever you see a
store that has 1-click shopping, they're probably paying Amazon some licensing
fees. Amazon was granted a patent for the technique in September of 1999. They
also own the trademark of "1-Click." The patent covers a technique
through which a store allows a user to complete an online purchase without
having to use shopping cart software, and also without inputting billing and
shipping information.
Apple is one of the few licensors of this patent.
They added 1-Click to their Apple Computer store and then later added it to
iTunes and iPhoto. In 1999, Amazon sued Barnes & Noble because of their
Express Lane service, which was similar to 1-click shopping. B&N thought
they had designed a way to get around the patent, but they still settled out of
court.
