Amazon ruling by Canadian Federal Court on 14 October 2010
- See: the decision (PDF)
Amazon v. Commissioner for Patents is a Canadian appeal which ruled that Amazon's one-click shopping patent could be patent eligible. This case sets important precedent because it was decided based on whether or not this sort of business method constitutes patentable subject matter in Canada.
Excerpts
[61] There is no basis for the Commissioner’s assumption that there is a “tradition” of excluding business methods from patentability in Canada. The only Canadian jurisprudence cited was made as obiter and in dissent by Arbour J. in Schmeiser.
[78] The absolute lack of authority in Canada for a “business method exclusion” and the questionable interpretation of legal authorities in support of the Commissioner’s approach to assessing subject matters underline the policy driven nature of her decision. It appears as if this was a “test case” by which to assess this policy, rather than an application of the law to the patent at issue.
