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Amazon, Telstra patent battle nears end

The controversial "one-click buy" patent, which Telstra and Amazon have fought over for more than a decade, looks set to finally be resolved within the next month.
Written by Luke Hopewell, Contributor

The controversial "one-click buy" patent, which Telstra and Amazon have fought over for more than a decade, looks set to finally be resolved within the next month.

Amazon.com

(Credit: Luke Hopewell/ZDNet Australia)

Amazon's one-click buy facility speeds up transactions by using pre-filled payment and shipping information, to avoid a customer re-entering this information for every purchase.

Telstra has long disputed Amazon's ownership over the patent in Australia. The commissioner of patents, Ed Knock, last year found that the one-click buy patent lacked an inventive step and deemed 60 of Amazon's 141 claims invalid.

Amazon was invited to revise its patent application to include novelty and an inventive step within 60 days, while, at the same time, being ordered to pay Telstra's legal costs in the patent dispute.

Following the commissioner's decision, Amazon revised its patent filing and submitted new documentation to IP Australia in September last year. The revised patent went unchallenged during the three-month objection period that followed the re-filing.

ZDNet Australia has today learned that IP Australia plans to send Telstra a letter within the next week, to confirm that Telstra's previous objections have been addressed. Amazon will finally be awarded the patent, if Telstra has no objections within three weeks of the letter being received, meaning that the marathon battle could be closed within a month.

Telstra had no comment on the matter.

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