Apple, PayPal sued by Cordance over one-click shopping
updated 01:15 pm EDT, Tue March 15, 2011
Cordance sues Apple and PayPal for one-click
Cordance late Monday sued Apple, PayPal and Victoria's Secret for allegedly copying its technology with one-click shopping. The Delaware-based complaint, made with the help of the previously unknown "exclusive licensee" and likely shell company Efficient Online Purchasing, accused the trio of violating a patent for an "object-based on-line transaction infrastructure." Apple was singled out for supposedly having infringed on purpose, although it wasn't said how or if the two companies had contact.
Challenging the patent might be difficult since it has been continued from 1996 through to 2004. Amazon is well-known for its own one-click patent and successfully won the support of the jury against Cordance in the very same court, although the case is now under appeal.
Cordance is hoping to ban the use of one-click by its targets and to ask for damages; it wants triple damages against Apple for its purported knowledge.
The lawsuit is ironic for Cordance, since the company has been encouraging the handing over of patents to the XDI (Extensible Resource Identifier Data Interchange) project to support "open, public, royalty-free standards." Its own complaints against Amazon and the new three suggest the company is only willing to support the concept of open, free standards where it didn't expect to profit. [via Florian Mueller]
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Are they stupid or am I?
So they sued Amazon already and lost? And now they are sueing Apple for *their* usage of 1-click? Hm... since Apple licenced the very same 1-click from Amazon, what grounds do they think they have?
As it says on http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/salespolicies.html#topic-5 :
"1-Click is a registered service mark of Amazon.com, Inc., used under license."