U.S. District Court Judge Marsha J. Pechman's preliminary injunction, issued late yesterday, bars New York-based Barnesandnoble.com from using its version of 1-Click technology, which allows online shoppers to purchase goods with a single mouse click, while a lawsuit over the issue is pending. Seattle-based Amazon.com filed a suit Oct. 20 claiming Barnesandnoble.com had illegally copied Amazon.com's 1-Click technology.
"The patent system is designed to encourage innovation," Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, said in a statement. "Amazon.com spent thousands of hours developing the 1-Click shopping feature. We've always worked hard to be innovators."
First made available to Amazon.com customers in September 1997, the 1-Click feature stores billing and shipping information so that returning customers can purchase selected items by clicking their mouse once, without re-entering or re-confirming any information. The U.S. Patent Office awarded Patent No. 5,960,411 to Amazon.com on September 28, 1999.
Due to the court's decision, Barnesandnoble.com said it will accelerate the replacement of its "Express Lane" purchasing system, which Amazon claims infringes on its patents. Barnesandnoble.com said it will launch the new service, called "Express Checkout," in the next several days. The new service was originally planned for debut after the holiday season.
"Although we are disappointed with the judge's preliminary injunction, we believe our position regarding our order process technology will be upheld upon appeal," according to a statement issued by Barnesandnoble.com.
Amazon's suit against Barnesandnoble.com comes at a time when an increasing number of e-commerce companies are trying to defend their online positions by patenting not just their technologies but also their business plans. America Online today announced a deal with Net2Phone that will allow users of its Instant Messenger technology to place and receive phone calls between computers, phones and fax machines.
Under the terms of the agreement, America Online (AOL) will work with Net2Phone to create AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)-branded Internet telephony products and services, including an AIM-branded card that offers AIM users low-cost Internet Telephony, the company said.
Based in Hackensack, N.J., Net2Phone enables people to place phone calls from their computer, telephone or fax machine to any telephone or fax machine in the world. Internet services giant AOL is headquartered in Dulles, Va.
The new agreement allows AIM users to place a call from their Internet-enabled PC to another phone; a traditional phone to another user's PC; send documents from their PC to a fax machine; and take part in conference calls.
"With this agreement, we are significantly building the tremendous value of our popular AOL Instant Messenger product that is revolutionizing online communications," Barry Schuler, president of AOL Interactive Services, said in a statement. "Combining instant messaging with spoken conversation will bring even more convenience to our AOL Instant Messenger users."
Internet portal company Lycos announced today it is teaming with Ericsson to deliver Internet content to wireless devices.
With this agreement, Ericsson customers will be able to have personalized Internet content and services from Lycos delivered to their wireless devices. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Ericsson, based in Stockholm, Sweden, is a provider of communications devices that combine telecom and datacom technologies with wireless technology, while Waltham, Mass.-based Lycos runs the Lycos Network, a unified set of Web sites.
"Lycos' breadth in content and services and the opportunity to pull from their best-of-breed network of sites make them an ideal partner for Ericsson," Hans Davidsson, vice president and general manager at Ericsson Wireless Internet Solutions, said in a statement. "With this alliance, we reinforce our commitment to providing the best solutions for wireless customers." Internet services giant America Online today announced a four-year, $100 million partnership with Monster.com, a global career management network.
Under the terms of the agreement, Monster.com will become the exclusive career-search engine across AOL, AOL Canada, AOL.com, CompuServe, ICQ, Netscape Netcenter and Digital City. Users will have access to Monster's jobs database of more than 260,000 opportunities, a resume-building tool and more than 700 pages of career content, the companies said.
Monster.com, headquartered in Maynard, Mass., is a global careers Web site with 10.1 million unique visits per month. Monster.com connects companies with job-seekers, offering technology and services that assist those companies in the recruiting process. The company's network consists of content and language sites in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand, Singapore and France.
Dulles, Va.-based AOL and Monster.com will create co-branded sites, enabling members and visitors to AOL's Web-based properties to search for jobs; use job search agents and, in many cases, apply online; submit resumes online; personalize the area to help with their job search; and research companies offering jobs, the companies said.
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