Showing posts with label Amazon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amazon. Show all posts

Friday, October 20, 2023

Music publishers sue Amazon-backed AI company over song lyrics; The Guardian, October 19, 2023

  and agencies, The Guardian; Music publishers sue Amazon-backed AI company over song lyrics

"Music publishers Universal Music, ABKCO and Concord Publishing sued the artificial intelligence company Anthropic in Tennessee federal court on Wednesday, accusing it of misusing “innumerable” copyrighted song lyrics to train its chatbot Claude.

The lawsuit said Anthropic violates the publishers’ rights through its use of lyrics from at least 500 songs ranging from the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows and the Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter to Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk and BeyoncĂ©’s Halo.

The lawsuit accused Anthropic of infringing the publishers’ copyrights by copying their lyrics without permission as part of the “massive amounts of text” that it scrapes from the internet to train Claude to respond to human prompts."

Friday, April 16, 2021

Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you.; The Washington Post, March 10, 2021

 Geoffrey A. Fowler, The Washington Post ; Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you.

 
"Many Americans now recognize that a few tech companies increasingly dominate our lives. But it’s sometimes hard to put your finger on exactly why that’s a problem. The case of the vanishing e-books shows how tech monopolies hurt us not just as consumers, but as citizens...
 
Librarians have been no match for the beast. When authors sign up with a publisher, it decides how to distribute their work... 
 
In testimony to Congress, the American Library Association called digital sales bans like Amazon’s “the worst obstacle for libraries” moving into the 21st century. Lawmakers in New York and Rhode Island have proposed bills that would require Amazon (and everybody else) to sell e-books to libraries with reasonable terms. This week, the Maryland House of Delegates unanimously approved its own library e-book bill, which now heads back to the state Senate... 
 
Libraries losing e-books matters because they serve us as citizens. It’s easy to take for granted, but libraries are among America’s great equalizers."

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Steve Jobs licensed Amazon’s one-click patent for $1 million in one phone call; Quartz, September 17, 2018

Kabir Chibber, Quartz; Steve Jobs licensed Amazon’s one-click patent for $1 million in one phone call

"“Licensing Amazon.com’s 1-Click patent and trademark will allow us to offer our customers an even easier and faster online buying experience,” Steve Jobs said at the time.

A Wired magazine oral history of Infinite Loop, Apple’s corporate offices in Cupertino, California for most of its existence, tells the behind-the-scenes story of that decision."

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Amazon patents wristband that tracks warehouse workers' movements; Guardian, January 31, 2018

Olivia Solon, Guardian; Amazon patents wristband that tracks warehouse workers' movements

"Amazon has patented designs for a wristband that can precisely track where warehouse employees are placing their hands and use vibrations to nudge them in a different direction.

The concept, which aims to streamline the fulfilment of orders, adds another layer of surveillance to an already challenging working environment."

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Amazon takes on small WA retailer Live Clothing in 'Glamazon' trademark stoush; ABC, July 24, 2017

Frances Bell, ABC; Amazon takes on small WA retailer Live Clothing in 'Glamazon' trademark stoush

"Live Clothing has been the registered owner of the Glamazon trademark for clothing, footwear and headgear since 1999, but has recently applied to extend the trademark to a wider range of retail and wholesale services.

But documents lodged with IP Australia show the application has been opposed by Amazon Technologies, which owns the trademark for the name "Glamazon fashionweek".

Glamazon is also the name of an internal Amazon social group for LGBTIQ employees, promoting diversity in the workplace."

Monday, June 19, 2017

Amazon has a patent to keep you from comparison shopping while you’re in its stores; Washington Post, June 16, 2017

Brian Fung, Washington Post; Amazon has a patent to keep you from comparison shopping while you’re in its stores

"Amazon was awarded a patent May 30 that could help it choke off a common issue faced by many physical stores: Customers’ use of smartphones to compare prices even as they walk around a shop. The phenomenon, often known as mobile “window shopping,” has contributed to a worrisome decline for traditional retailers.

But Amazon now has the technology to prevent that type of behavior when customers enter any of its physical stores and log onto the WiFi networks there. Titled “Physical Store Online Shopping Control,” Amazon’s patent describes a system that can identify a customer’s Internet traffic and sense when the smartphone user is trying to access a competitor’s website. (Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos is also the owner of The Washington Post.)...

Just because a company wins a patent doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll use it. Sometimes companies file for patents to ensure they have the option to put the idea into practice later, or to keep other companies from implementing the concept. So, a system such as the kind Amazon’s envisioning might never be rolled out. And even if it is, chances are shoppers could still get around the system by staying off the in-store WiFi."

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Amazon patent hints at self-driving car plans; Guardian, 1/18/17

Alex Hern, Guardian; 

Amazon patent hints at self-driving car plans

"Amazon is working on self-driving cars, according to a new patent that deals with the complex task of navigating reversible lanes.

The patent, filed in November 2015 and granted on Tuesday, covers the problem of how to deal with reversible lanes, which change direction depending on the bulk of the traffic flow. This type of lane is typically used to manage commuter traffic into and out of cities, particularly in the US.

Autonomous vehicles, the patent warns, “may not have information about reversible lanes when approaching a portion of a roadway that has reversible lane”, leading to a worst-case scenario of them driving headfirst into oncoming traffic."

Friday, December 30, 2016

Amazon’s Flying Warehouse Idea Isn’t Even Its Biggest Challenge; Huffington Post, 12/30/16

Kate Abbey-Lambertz, Huffington Post; 

Amazon’s Flying Warehouse Idea Isn’t Even Its Biggest Challenge:


"Delivering packages by drone at all seemed at first like “a loopy idea, far-fetched and the subject of instant mockery on Twitter,” as New York Times technology writer David Streitfeld wrote when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos first mentioned it in 2013.

Now it’s considered all but a certainty, even if the timeline is hazy. Other companies are exploring or testing drone package delivery, including GoogleWalmart and the United Parcel Service

Amazon holds a separate patent for a system of light poles that would serve as miniature drone docking stations. There’s no indication it’s any more viable than airships, but it seems to show a company rigorously exploring drone delivery from every angle.

Considering how the company’s other out-there ideas have worked out ― like entirely upending the publishing industry ― it’s safe to say it’s too early to write off flying warehouses."

Run-DMC Files $50 Million Trademark Infringement Suit Against Amazon, Walmart, and Other Retailers; Slate, 12/30/16

David Canfield, Slate; 

Run-DMC Files $50 Million Trademark Infringement Suit Against Amazon, Walmart, and Other Retailers:


"Billboard reports that Run-DMC has filed a lawsuit for more than $50 million against such entities as Walmart, Amazon, and Jet for trademark infringement. The hip-hop group is alleging that that these and other companies—in addition to about 20 unnamed individuals—continue to “trade on the goodwill of RUN-DMC,” using their name, their logo, and misleading products made in their “style” (such as fedora hats and square-frame sunglasses) without permission."

Amazon Is Considering Drone-Friendly Floating Warehouses; Fortune, 12/29/16

Don Reisinger, Fortune; Amazon Is Considering Drone-Friendly Floating Warehouses:

"The e-commerce giant has been awarded a patent that describes a logistics technology it calls "airborne fulfillment center (AFC)." The AFC is essentially in airship that's capable of flying at altitudes of 45,000 feet or more that would house items the company sells through its online marketplace. In the patent, Amazon describes a method by which drones would fly into the warehouse, pick up the items they need to deliver, and then deliver those items to the customer's home.


Amazon filed for the patent in 2014. While it was actually awarded in April, it wasn't discovered until Wednesday by CB Insights tech analyst Zoe Leavitt."

Amazon Has Patented Some Wild Drone Technologies; Discover, 12/29/16

Nathaniel Scharping, Discover; 

Amazon Has Patented Some Wild Drone Technologies:


"Earlier this month, a fully autonomous Amazon drone delivered its first package in the United Kingdom — an Amazon Fire TV and a bag of popcorn — in just 13 minutes. The company says it hopes to expand the program in coming months, allowing select customers to have their packages brought to them via drone, weather permitting of course.
Any such implementation in the U.S. will have to wait a little longer, as current FAA regulations do not permit drones to be flown out of a pilot’s line of sight. Amazon seems to anticipate that those rules will soon change, however, and has filed a bevy of patents over the past couple of years aimed at upgrading their drone technology to make it fast, safe and efficient.
These patents may never see the light of day, of course, as it’s common for corporations to snap up the rights to forward-looking technologies before they come to fruition."

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Amazon Has a New U.S. Patent to Protect Its Drones; Fortune, 12/22/16

Madeline Farber, Fortune; Amazon Has a New U.S. Patent to Protect Its Drones:
"Amazon received a technology patent this week to give its drones extra anti-hacking protection when making deliveries, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Amazon filed for the patented technology covering countermeasures against threats to drones, or uncrewed autonomous vehicles (UAV), because it said that third parties could interfere with a drone's wireless communications system using a wireless signal jammer...
The drones, or UAVs, are used for Amazon's Prime Air delivery service. Earlier this month, the e-commerce giant successfully delivered its first package with a drone in the United Kingdom. The drones are designed to deliver packages of up to five pounds in less than 30 minutes, according to Amazon. Currently, Prime Air has development centers in the U.K., U.S., Austria, and Israel. The company has yet to get regulatory approval to fly drones in the U.S."

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Amazon nets patent for mini police drones; SeattlePI.com, 10/28/16

Daniel Demay, SeattlePI.com; Amazon nets patent for mini police drones:
"Forget police body cameras, Amazon was just granted a patent for miniature police shoulder drones.
Amazon Technologies, Inc. was granted a patent Oct. 18 for a device it called an “unmanned aerial vehicle assistant,” aimed at use by police for everything from monitoring situations to finding lost children at the fair.
The miniature drone, shown in patent filing drawings perched on a police officer’s shoulder above their clip-on radio microphone (and only just as wide as the mic), would be voice activated and could detect “distress” commands, among other things, essentially providing a second set of ears and eyes not just for the officer on the ground, but for a central system monitoring data coming from the drone...
The devices, if put into wide use, would no doubt raise new questions about police use of technology, said Shankar Narayan, technology and liberty project director for the America Civil Liberties Union in Seattle. Because the drones would be so small, they might be able to operate in discreet ways, collecting information without the subjects ever being aware, he noted."

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Apple and Amazon Take Baby Steps Toward Digital Sharing; New York Times, 9/18/14

Molly Wood, New York Times; Apple and Amazon Take Baby Steps Toward Digital Sharing:
"In the physical world, you can share a book or DVD or CD that you bought with as many friends and family as you like. You can even sell those items if you want, thanks to the first sale doctrine.
But digital media has been excluded from that doctrine, because, essentially, when you buy a digital song or movie or book, you’re being granted a license to use that media, but you don’t actually own it.
As a result, there are far more restrictions on what you can do with an MP3 than on what you can do with a CD...
So, while Family Sharing and Family Library seem like a victory at first, “to me, this is really a failure of our copyright law,” said Corynne McSherry, who heads intellectual property policy research at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
“It presupposes that the content owners should be able to have that kind of control over what they buy,” she said. “Copyright law isn’t changing with our times, because what doesn’t change is that people want to be able to give someone a copy of a book or song that they legally bought.”
“The fact is,” Ms. McSherry said, “that we need Amazon or Apple to have elaborate license agreements in order to make it possible for their customers to be able to do what they should be able to do anyway.”"

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Bill Bryson's copyright stoush with Mike Gerrard has wider implications; Sydney Morning Herald, 10/18/13

Nick Galvin, Sydney Morning Herald; Bill Bryson's copyright stoush with Mike Gerrard has wider implications: "Author Bill Bryson's warm and cuddly image has been somewhat tarnished after his publishers reportedly turned on a journalist for republishing an interview from nearly 20 years ago. British travel writer and guidebook author Mike Gerrard, who interviewed Bryson in 1994, recently decided to republish the interview as an 8000-word, 27-page e-book. According to travel industry blog, World Travel Market, Bryson’s lawyers took exception to Gerrard’s enterprise, claiming it breached the award-winning author's copyright. They demanded the book be removed from the Amazon store, a request Amazon agreed to, much to Gerrard’s annoyance."

Saturday, April 14, 2012

The Apple ebook price-fixing lawsuit has terrifying implications; Guardian, 4/13/12

Alison Flood, Guardian; The Apple ebook price-fixing lawsuit has terrifying implications:

"The DoJ lawsuit plays, it seems to me, right into the hands of Amazon. Yes, we'll have cheaper books, but at what cost? Is it worth paying a little bit less for a title if it threatens the future existence of the publishers who are bringing us the books? Or will we be happy getting everything we read from a vastly reduced pool of presses?"

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Stores See Google as Ally in E-Book Market; New York Times, 6/30/10

Brad Stone, New York Times; Stores See Google as Ally in E-Book Market:

"Independent bookstores were battered first by discount chains like Barnes & Noble, then by superefficient Web retailers like Amazon.com.

Darin Sennett of Powell’s said a Google deal would make the store independent of the e-readers sold by the big booksellers.

Now the electronic book age is dawning. With this latest challenge, these stores will soon have a new ally: the search giant Google.

Later this summer, Google plans to introduce its long-awaited push into electronic books, called Google Editions. The company has revealed little about the venture thus far, describing it generally as an effort to sell digital books that will be readable within a Web browser and accessible from any Internet-connected computing device.

Now one element of Google Editions is coming into sharper focus. Google is on the verge of completing a deal with the American Booksellers Association, the trade group for independent bookstores, to make Google Editions the primary source of e-books on the Web sites of hundreds of independent booksellers around the country, according to representatives of Google and the association.

The partnership could help beloved bookstores like Powell’s Books in Portland, Ore.; Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, Calif.; and St. Mark’s Bookshop in New York. To court the growing audience of people who prefer reading on screens rather than paper, these small stores have until now been forced to compete against the likes of Amazon, Apple and Sony.

The Google deal could give them a foothold in this fast-growing market and help them keep devoted customers from migrating elsewhere.

“Google has shown a real interest in our market,” said Len Vlahos, chief operating officer of the booksellers association, which has over 1,400 member bookstores. “For a lot of reasons, it’s a very good fit.”

Google will probably face an uphill battle in its effort to enter the already crowded e-books field. The company has little experience as a retailer. It also has far fewer consumer credit card numbers in its database than either Amazon or Apple, and its online payment system, Google Checkout, has not been widely adopted."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/business/30books.html?hpw

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Publishers Win a Bout in E-Book Price Fight; New York Times, 2/8/10

Motoko Rich, New York Times; Publishers Win a Bout in E-Book Price Fight:

"Google’s e-book retail program would be separate from the company’s class-action settlement with authors and publishers over its book-scanning project, under which Google has scanned more than seven million volumes — mostly out of print — from several university libraries. That settlement was recently imperiled by a filing from the Department of Justice that said it still had significant legal problems with the agreement, even after a round of revisions. The settlement is subject to court approval.

Google users can already search up to about 20 percent of the content of many new books that publishers have agreed to enroll in a search program. According to publishers, Google originally said it would automatically enroll any book sold through Google Editions in the search program. An executive from at least one of the six largest publishers said the company did not agree with those terms. Mr. Clancy said that Google would not require books sold through Google Editions to be part of the search program.

Last May Tom Turvey, director of strategic partnerships at Google, told publishers at the annual BookExpo convention in New York that Google’s program for selling new e-book editions would allow consumers to read books on any device with Internet access, including mobile phones, rather than being limited to dedicated reading devices like the Amazon Kindle.

Google, without its own e-reader, wants to be a Switzerland of sorts, competing with Barnes & Noble and other e-book sellers to become the preferred digital bookstore on devices other than the iPad or the Kindle, such as Android smart phones.

In general, publishers are eager for Google to enter the e-book market because they want more competition. “We would love to have a diverse marketplace for e-books,” said Maja Thomas, senior vice president for the digital division of Hachette Book Group, which publishes blockbuster authors like James Patterson and Stephenie Meyer. Since Google would contribute to such diversity, Ms. Thomas said, “we welcome them.”"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/books/09google.html?scp=1&sq=e-books&st=cse

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Amazon Caves To Macmillan’s eBook Pricing Demands; TechCrunch, 1/31/10

Leena Rao, TechCrunch; Amazon Caves To Macmillan’s eBook Pricing Demands:

"A new development in the Amazon vs. Macmillan fiasco. Amazon just posted an announcement indicating that will be “capitulating” to Macmillan by selling the publishers’ books for their desired prices.

Macmillan is trying to price their e-books at $15, while Amazon prices e-books at $9.99. Macmillan’s CEO John Sargent said that unless Amazon sets the price of new e-books to $15, the publisher will not distribute new books to Amazon when they are released. On Friday, Amazon basically banned titles, both paper and digital, published by Macmillan by refusing to directly sell them. And Macmillan took out an ad in the Publishers Marketplace magazine protesting the tactics being used by Amazon regarding pricing.

Amazon is now giving into Macmillan’s demands because of the publisher’s monopoly over its titles. In a passive aggressive manner, Amazon says that readers will decide whether its reasonable to pay $14.99 for e-books. And that other publishers will compete by offering their books and lower prices."

http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/31/amazon-caves-to-macmillans-ebook-pricing-demands/