In this article, Deepshikha Sarkar discusses the implications of the expiry of Amazon’s OneClick patent for e-commerce industry.
What is OneClick?
OneClick, also called 1-Click or one-click is an online buying method which was patented by the company Amazon. The patent was granted by The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as US 5960411 in 1999. But as it was applied for in 1997, it expired on 12th September 2017. The US patent can be found here
OneClick is a technique which allows customers to make online purchase with just one single hit subsequent to the first order. When a customer places his first order and entres payment method and shipping order with Amazon, OneClick is automatically enabled. With this technology customer’s order is be automatically charged to the payment method and shipped to the address associated with his OneClick settings.
Amazon claimed OneClick to be New as it allows an online shopper using an internet marketplace to purchase an item without having to use shopping cart software. Instead of manually inputting billing and shipping information for a purchase, a user can use OneClick buying to use a predefined address and credit card number to purchase one or more items.
What are the implications of expiry of a patent?
IN THE UNITED STATES
Amazon’s OneClick has been one of its major advantages on the road to market dominance in the US.
Amazon patented the then novel technology back in 1999. Barnes and Noble introduced their own system called Express Lane. Amazon sued Barnes & Noble for using their patent and won.
Some companies have licensed the 1-Click buy from Amazon, most notably Apple in 2000, as Steve Jobs believed it to be crucial for the growth of the iTunes Store.
With the expiring of the patent, the field is now the same for all, it will be soon once online retailers catch up with implementation. The big companies have long been anticipating this day and are already developing their own technology for 1-Click purchases. Giants like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook have been gearing up to take the 1-Click buy to just about any page on the web.
Facebook itself already has a Buy button, and other social media players like Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram may not be soon behind.
It is expected that in the future OneClick buying will be the norm. All leading retailers, social media sites, cookie enabled browsers and websites like PayPal will store information. Internet will act as megastore and browsing will be smooth, users will be seamlessly picking from the plethora of options.
The expiry of patent gives an opportunity to all e-commerce stores — the big and the small. As online experiences are automated, consumers’ lives are enriched with ever smoother and quicker interactions.
These innovations will further fuel the growth of e-commerce and fast-track the advance of machine learning, making lives simpler and easy to check out anytime, anywhere.
INDIA
The trademark was claimed under CPC class G06Q 10/087 which protects Data Processing systems or methods and more specifically Inventory or stock management.
This Data Processing System is in direct contravention of Indian law. As far as the patentability of process, workflow or method patents is concerned, the processes and products which are not patentable is mentioned in Section 3, Patents Act, 1970 (Those which are not inventions). Presentation of information or a business method falls is not considered an invention under section 3(n).
It is important to note that Amazon has not launched OneClick in India, keeping aside the fact that OneClick could not be patented in India Amazon made a conscious business decision as to not launch it in India. There were no regulatory setbacks, as OneClick functions as Mail Order Telephone Order transaction (MOTO) in the United States and MOTO transactions are allowed by the RBI to Credit card holders in India.
EUROPE
It can be safely said that the implications will not be huge outside the US as it was never successfully launched or patented anywhere else apart from the USA.
Amazon was never able obtain a patent for OneClick in Europe. In fact, they continued trying to get Patent rights in the European Union with continuous appeals for ten years starting from 2001. They were rejected last in 2011.
CONCLUSION
There were a lot of questions raised as to granting the patent of the nature of OneClick but it was groundbreaking in terms of online shopping.On the event of the patent expiring, consumers could see a lot more opportunities to shop impulsively—in case they have already provided their payment details to the merchant. It also creates situations in which consumers to end up with purchases they didn’t mean to buy.
But it remains a good news for retailers that are trying to find new ways to lure consumers their way and away from Amazon. Also, technology bigwigs like Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft will surely include this single click ordering technology on their own websites. This will facilitate the consumers shopping online to make purchases through merely a click of the mouse on any website via the details saved on their web browser.
Whether this system post the expiry of the Patent will be a huge impactful success or not is still a question. This is dependant upon American web shopper’s propensity to adopt a system which mandates entry of address and payment details into their browser.
