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Re:Amazon has patented the milkman, etc. by j-g-faustus on Saturday February 09, 2013 @11:37PM (#5195423)
I believe patents work by making the description impenetrable enough to make the examiner's eyes glaze over.

So they approve the patent in self-defense, and don't notice that it's just a list of trivialities.

Re:Amazon has patented the milkman, etc. by monochromatic on Saturday February 09, 2013 @11:48PM (#5195452)
Do you believe this based on anything in particular?
Re:Amazon has patented the milkman, etc. by j-g-faustus on Sunday February 10, 2013 @02:27AM (#5195732)
It's the only explanation I can find for the fact that patents like this are approved :)

(My alternative hypothesis revolves around evil conspiracies to extend property rights into the realm of generic ideas, with the aim to create a modern equivalent to the medieval landed gentry who can get rich entirely by rent-seeking[1]. All in all, I prefer the "examiners don't understand what they approve" explanation :)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking

Re:Amazon has patented the milkman, etc. by AlexHamilton on Sunday February 10, 2013 @05:52AM (#5196048)
I've just read all the claims and everything looks trivial once you realise that this is the basic specification for a repeating delivery system. Can you point to a single aspect of any of the claims that would reasonably be described as novel?
Re:Amazon has patented the milkman, etc. by drcube on Sunday February 10, 2013 @08:49AM (#5196389)
The OP.
Re:Amazon has patented the milkman, etc. by monochromatic on Sunday February 10, 2013 @09:30AM (#5196473)
Yeah, but we already discussed how the OP doesn't know what he's talking about.
Re:Amazon has patented the milkman, etc. by cabalamat on Sunday February 10, 2013 @09:01AM (#5196423)
I don't know whether the examiner's eyes glaze over, but mine certainly do.