Amazon’s Patent: The Last Click

2012-03-01

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AMAZON’SPATENT:THELASTCLICK
JEAN-FRANÇOISJOURNAULT*
ROBIC,LLP
LAWYERS,PATENTANDTRADE-MARKAGENTS

ThesagaconcerningAmazon’s”oneclick”onlineshoppingtechnology,which
AmazonhasattemptedtopatentinCanadasince1998,cametoanendinearly
2012,thepatentbeingissuedbytheCanadianIntellectualPropertyOfficeon
January17,2012.
TheCommissioner’sdecisiontoissuethepatentcameshortlyafteradecisionofthe
FederalCourtofAppealwhichupheldmostofthefindingsoftheearlierFederal
Courtdecisiononthisissue.Thelatterhadestablishedthatbusinessmethodswere
notexcludedpersefromthedefinitionofinventionunderthePatentAct,andthatthe
analysisusedbytheCommissionertodeterminethepatentabilityofbusiness
methodswasincorrectinlaw.

TheFederalCourtofAppealhadhoweverrefusedtoruleonthepatentabilityofthe
pendingclaims.TheCourtarguedthatonlyanewconstructionoftheseclaimscould
determineifthesubjectmatteroftheclaimswasadisembodiedideaornot,and
whethertheclaimsmetthe“physicality”conditionrequiringachangeofcharacteror
conditionofaphysicalobject.Therefore,thecasehadbeenreturnedtothe
Commissionerfortheclaimstobeconstruedandtheapplicationtobere-examined
basedonthecriteriaestablishedbytheFederalCourtofAppeal.Thenoticeof
allowanceissuedbytheCommissioner,followingitsre-examination,showsthatthe
Commissionerdeterminedthat,inthiscase,theclaimsmettheconditions
establishedbytheCourt.

TheoutcomeisgreatnewsforAmazon,whichwillbenefitfrompatentprotectionon
thistechnologyforapproximatelythenext6½yearsremainingfromthe20-year
periodfollowingthefilingofitspatentapplication.Theissuanceofthispatentalso
setsaprecedentforthosewhowishtopatentcomputer-implementedinventionsin
Canada,andprovidesanexampleofatechnologythatcanbeusedasabarometer
ofabusinessmethodreachingthethresholdofpatentabilityinCanada.

Ontheotherhand,forpractitionersandcompaniesinthefieldofcomputer-
implementedinventions,theissuanceofthepatentrepresentsamissedopportunity
toobtainclearguidelinesfromtheSupremeCourtofCanadaconcerningthe
patentabilityofthistypeofinnovation,thelatternotbeingcalledupontoruleonthe
subject.Inthecurrentcontextwherecaselawonthesubjectisscarce,theopinionof
thecountry’shighestCourtwouldhavebeenwelcome.

©CIPS,2012.
*FromROBIC,LLP,multidisciplinaryfirmofLawyers,andPatentandTrade-markAgents.Published
intheWinter201
2(Vol.15,no.4)Newsletterofthefirm.Publication068.144E.

Atthisstagewecanonlyspeculateonthereasonin
gwhichledtheCommissionerto
concludethat,uponre-examination,theclaimscontainedpatentablesubjectmatter.
However,theanalysisofsubsequentlygrantedapplicationswillhelptobetterassess
whatthepatentofficeconsiderstobeapatentablebusinessmethodorcomputer-
implementedinvention(i.e.thatisnotadisembodiedideaandmeetsthe”physicality”
criterion).Tothisend,newexaminationguidelines,whichshouldbeissuedto
examinersinresponsetothisrecentdevelopment,shouldalsobeveryuseful.

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