US Patent Office Grants 'Photography Against A White Background' Patent To Amazon

Techdirt ^ | May 8, 2014

[EveningStar]

US Patent Office Grants 'Photography Against A White Background' Patent To Amazon

from the maybe-someone-at-the-office-checked-the-wrong-box? dept

The US Patent and Trademark Office is frequently maligned for its baffling/terrible decisions... and rightfully so. Because this is exactly the sort of thing for which the USPTO should be maligned. Udi Tirosh at DIY Photography has uncovered a recently granted patent for the previously-unheard of process of photographing things/people against a white backdrop... to of all companies, Amazon.

I am not really sure how to tag this other than a big #fail for the USPTO, or a huge Kudos for Amazon's IP attorneys. In a patent simply called Studio arrangement Amazon took IP ownership on what we all call shooting against a seamless white backdrop.

[G Larry]

Hey!

Is “Typing against a white background” still available?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The USPTO is a cesspool of affirmative action.

The purpose of affirmative action is to place people with IQs of 85 into positions for which they are completely unqualified.

Any questions?

[Freeping Since 2001]

Here’s what they actually patented (never trust a journalist). Eliminate or change any of the following details and you’re outside the scope of their patent:

1. A studio arrangement, comprising:
a background comprising a white cyclorama;
a front light source positioned in a longitudinal axis intersecting the background, the longitudinal axis further being substantially perpendicular to a surface of the white cyclorama;
an image capture position located between the background and the front light source in the longitudinal axis, the image capture position comprising at least one image capture device equipped with an eighty-five millimeter lens, the at least one image capture device further configured with an ISO setting of about three hundred twenty and an f-stop value of about 5.6;
an elevated platform positioned between the image capture position and the background in the longitudinal axis, the front light source being directed toward a subject on the elevated platform;
a first rear light source aimed at the background and positioned between the elevated platform and the background in the longitudinal axis, the first rear light source positioned below a top surface of the elevated platform and oriented at an upward angle relative to a floor level;
a second rear light source aimed at the background and positioned between the elevated platform and the background in the longitudinal axis, the second rear light source positioned above the top surface of the elevated platform and oriented at a downward angle relative to the floor level;
a third rear light source aimed at the background and positioned in a lateral axis intersecting the elevated platform and being substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, the third rear light source further positioned adjacent to a side of the elevated platform; and
a fourth rear light source aimed at the background and positioned in the lateral axis adjacent to an opposing side of the elevated platform relative to the third rear light source; wherein
a top surface of the elevated platform reflects light emanating from the background such that the elevated platform appears white and a rear edge of the elevated platform is substantially imperceptible to the image capture device; and
the first rear light source, the second rear light source, the third rear light source, and the fourth rear light source comprise a combined intensity greater than the front light source according to about a 10:3 ratio.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Will Amazon really attempt to see this patent enforced against all the photographers who use this theme? I doubt it. As wide ranging as this seems on the surface of things, it is only their biggest competitors that will be subject to enforcement, and they have the clout to nullify this in court if they so choose. Or they could adjust their background color by one hex code toward gray/off white.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Thanks for the recipe!

[EveningStar]

I don’t see how Amazon can win this. But I’m not an attorney. Maybe there are some patent attorneys here.

[Revel]

I am gong to patient the word “Love”.

[GeronL]

I hereby claim the word “social”

[Cementjungle]

Read further... specifically this gem:

"It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are merely possible examples of implementations set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiment(s) without departing substantially from the spirit and principles of the disclosure. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims."

[BobL]

What the USPTO SHOULD DO is sue Amazon for filing such a STUPID application and wasting their time. Our deficits are BIG ENOUGH, without the help of this crap.

[Freeping Since 2001]

The USPTO is a cesspool of affirmative action.

---

Some, but not too prevalent. LOTS of Asian patent examiners with weak English skills but good tech knowledge.

As far as trademark examiners, any AA folks who can pass a bar exam end up snapped up for much better jobs.

Moreover, the weakest “AA” patent examiners exasperate not because they allow bad patents, but because they refuse to allow good ones.

[a fool in paradise]

This is also the REQUIRED backdrop for any of a number of official IDs.

Such utter horsesh!t by either corrupt figures or know nothings. Either way, the person(s) responsible for approving the patent claim deserve to be terminated over it.

[a fool in paradise]

the image capture position comprising at least one image capture device equipped with an eighty-five millimeter lens

If I use a 200mm lens, I think lawyers and low information jurors would still find that I infringe on their patent.

[the_daug]

From interview with Donald Knuth, Dr. Dobbs Journal April 1996

DK: The first thing I would say is that when you write a program,
think of it primarily as a work of literature. You’re
trying to write something that human beings are going to
read. Don’t think of it primarily as something a computer
is going to follow. The more effective you are at making
your program readable, the more effective it’s going to be:
You’ll understand it today, you’ll understand it next week,
and your successors who are going to maintain and modify
it will understand it.

Secondly, ideas that are mathematical in nature should be
the property of the world and not of the individual who
thinks of the theorem. I’d prefer that all but the most sophisticated algorithms be made public and that everybody
use them, and not that every time you use such-and-such a
method you should pay a nano-penny to some fund.

I wrote an open letter to the head of the U.S. Patent Commission,
published in the current printing of the CWEB
manual. I said, ‘What if lawyers were to have rights to their
precedents? What if people had patents on words of the
English language, and every author who wanted to write
a novel would have to check which words they were using
and pay royalties to the owners of those words? Can’t you
see how obvious it is that the quality of the legal system and the quality of published books would go down? Because
you’re taking away the building blocks that people need to
do their job.’

The basic building blocks that software designers need to
do their jobs are algorithms and languages and mathematics.
It’s traditionally impossible to patent a mathematical
formula, for very good reason. Anyone who would wish to
calculate the area of a circle and use r2 should have to pay
a royalty for that: It’s exact, it’s a universal thing. I think
that algorithms should be in exactly the same category. Algorithms
are mathematics.

Algorithms are the building blocks to create large, useful
systems. The service that you’re providing for people
is making those systems more accessible, packaging them
better, giving better help on the phone, but not just having
a method that other people could put into another system

[the_daug]

patenting color and background is like patenting words?

[MaxMax]

I didn’t think you could patent colors, much like the human body or Natural characteristics.

[Freeping Since 2001]

If I use a 200mm lens, I think lawyers and low information jurors would still find that I infringe on their patent.

---

Very unlikely. This is such a narrow patent that ts meaningless.

[Freeping Since 2001]

Read further... specifically this gem:

“It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are merely possible examples of implementations set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiment(s) without departing substantially from the spirit and principles of the disclosure. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.”

---

That is meaningless boilerplate. It does not expand the scope of the narrow claims.