Another Weird Patent for Amazon: Error Pages

[The Straight Story]

Another Weird Patent for Amazon: Error Pages
January 30, 2008 — 03:55 PM PST — by Kristen Nicole —

Amazon likes patents. It thought it was self-righteous enough to patent one-click purchasing options for online retail, and maybe it was, but the patent was rejected anyway. And more recently, there was blurbs, which actually was granted, but all this talk of Amazon and its weird patent tactics merely acts as an intro for the subject of this particular post: Amazon has been granted a patent for an error page, reports Web Pro News.

I know, none of you are surprised. But, in true Amazon nature, this patent is a bit special. With the power of its recommendation tools, Amazon will be giving you redirecting options for similar, functional pages. This is something we’d hope all websites would do, but Amazon’s gone and patented it.

So you’re looking for a new book on Amazon, and you receive an error message because the book is no longer available or you’ve accessed a link to a cached version of the book. Instead of letting you sit there and stare at an error page, or even leaving you to begin a search from scratch, you’ll be presented with options for easy, related purchasing options. It all works out for your benefit, right?

http://mashable.com/2008/01/30/amazon-patent-error-pages/