Big news, under the radar screen. Amazon has been granted a patent on cookies. Given the fundamental role of cookies in Web-based applications, I’d have expected to hear more about this. I asked my friend Sam Mawn-Mahlau, a partner at Edwards & Angell in Boston, what he thought. Sam thought the patent could be interesting, but that Amazon has been mostly defensive in its use of patents in the past.
Amazon’s in the black right now, but I guess if profits go south this could make a pretty powerful asset for the SCO-inclined. So, shop at Amazon this holiday season or face the music!