amazon patents personalized recommendations.
May 31, 2000 3:57 PM   Subscribe

amazon patents personalized recommendations. here we go again...
posted by mmanning (8 comments total)
 
One word: FatBrain.
posted by wiremommy at 4:18 PM on May 31, 2000


Sigh. Here we go, once again forced to ride the prior art train by Amazon.

That's five, and there are at least a dozen more here. Does Amazon own Alexa? Is that the flimsy basis for their patent?

This is particularly grating because I've been pontificating about the possibility of intelligently filtered weblogs--an improvement on how Slashdot does it--and have read a teeny-tiny slice of the vast amount of research on the topic.
posted by snarkout at 4:20 PM on May 31, 2000


This appears to be the patent in question. I know patent law is tough, but this can't be "novel", can it?
posted by snarkout at 4:25 PM on May 31, 2000


FatBrain has their own patents pending.

And the latest patent was filed on March 17, 1998. Amazon purchased Alexa a year later, so I doubt their patent is related to Alexa.
posted by tomalak at 4:53 PM on May 31, 2000


Further background on Amazon's Bookmatcher service...

A Net Perceptions Press Release mentions Amazon created the service with their technology.

In another story about Amazon's introduction of Bookmatcher, it was mentioned B&N was using Firefly's collaborative filtering technology at the time.
posted by tomalak at 5:12 PM on May 31, 2000


Cdnow has done the same thing for at least a year and a half, I know. Are patents getting so specific they can get away with saying "..for books"? Can I get away with a patent on a service that matches users with a lawyer specializing in prior-art defenses?

posted by Freakho at 5:54 PM on May 31, 2000


It seems to me that the art of recommending other goods and services based on prior happiness with another good or service was master LONG before the internet was even concieved. Of course, I can't prove that. Or, maybe I just don't care to prove it. Regardless, amazon is evil. I will never buy anything from them.
posted by howa2396 at 11:35 PM on May 31, 2000


I don't care to proofread either. I will never proofread!
posted by howa2396 at 11:42 PM on May 31, 2000


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