The holiday season came early this year for Amazon.com. On Dec. 1, a federal court in Washington state issued a preliminary injunction on rival barnesandnoble.com, saying the online bookseller’s ” Express Lane” shopping system will likely be found to infringe Amazon.com’s highly vaunted “ 1-Click” technology (Amazon.com Inc. v. Barnesandnoble.com Inc., W.D. Wash., No. C99-1695P, 12/1/99).
A defiant barnesandnoble.com vowed not to let its opponent stifle its cyber-selling rights. In her 40-page order, U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman said that after a five-day evidentiary hearing, Amazon.com had shown it was likely to prevail on the merits and that barnesandnoble.com’s attack on the 1-Click patent’s validity and lack of infringement “lack substantial merit.”
