There’s a lot to be said for the ease of one-click checkout systems, but Amazon, Apple and PayPal may learn to regret their early adoption thanks to lawsuits brought against all three companies by a little-known Washington software company called Cordance Corp.
Cordance is claiming that the three companies, along with Victoria’s Secret, are infringing on a patent they own with their one-click checkouts. The lawsuit against Amazon was actually filed in 2006, with Cordance winning the lawsuit in 2009 and Amazon’s appeal still in process; the suits against Apple, PayPal and Victoria’s Secret are all new and the result of the company teaming with Acacia Research Corporation, a company specializing in teaming with patent holders for litigation for a 50/50 split of proceeds resulting from the cases. The complaint suggests that the companies are knowing and willfully infringing on Cordance’s patent in their one-click checkout systems, with special emphasis called out for Apple, whose infringement has apparently caused Cordance “irreparable harm for which there is no adequate remedy at law.”
If you’re thinking that you’ve never heard of Cordance before, PaidContent points out that the company currently has an odd existence:
Cordance was apparently once an operating company, but its website appears not to have been updated since 2006. And when a Google search on your company name results in two links to your company and eight links related to patent lawsuits you’ve filed—well, you’re in “patent troll” territory.
The lawsuit was filed on Monday; Apple, PayPal and Victoria’s Secret have yet to respond.
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