In case anyone still cares – and they SHOULD – the famous, or infamous, Amazon 1-click patent is about to emerge from a four (4) year re-examination. Five of the original claims (nos. 6-10) have been confirmed, while 21 claims (nos. 1-5 and 11-26) have been allowed as amended. The amendment adds the limitation that the 1-click system is employed in conjunction with the “shopping cart model.” Since the shopping cart model is used by most retail e-commerce websites, this added limitation does not appreciably narrow the scope of the claims.

Ten years ago, Amazon sued Barnes & Noble for allegedly infringing the now-infamous “1-click” patent. This suit created a frenzy among techno-geeks who vomited up a mountain of prior art and vituperative rant in an unsuccessful attempt to invalidate the Amazon patent. Now, Amazon is being sued by Cordance Corp. which has a patent on – you guessed it – a “1-click” ordering system. Cordance claims that its patent predates the Amazon patent.