An Interesting Twist in the Amazon vs Barnes and Noble Saga

Posted on July 6th, 2010 by Nathan

Price wars between Amazon and Barnes and Noble are one thing, but now it’s really going to get interesting. Amazon was just granted a patent that was filed in 2006 for ebook readers with a secondary LCD display.

Yeah. You read that correctly. Amazon holds the patent for the design of ebook readers like the Nook and the Alex Reader that have a smaller LCD screen next to an E Ink screen.

And according to the article over at Engadget, Amazon didn’t file for any corresponding foreign patents during the approval process, so they weren’t required to publish the patent application, which means that this is likely a complete surprise to the entire industry.

Here’s the salient points from the patent:

“A handheld electronic device comprising: a housing; an electronic paper display disposed in the housing and having a first surface area; and a liquid crystal display (LCD) disposed in the housing proximate the electronic paper display, the LCD having a second surface area that is smaller than the first surface area of the electronic paper display.”

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see how this one plays out. Amazon is ruthless. B&N has some legal tiptoeing to do, that’s for sure.

Via: Engadget

Patents: suppressing technological advancement and competition for 536 years and counting.