Amazon Wins e-Reader Patent, How Will This Affect the nook?

July 7, 2010 By Ryan Fleming

A new ruling grants Amazon the patent ability to have an e-ink display and an LCD display on the same e-reader.

The battle for the future of the e-Reader market may have just taken a dramatic shift. A recent patent granted to Amazon will give them the patent rights to create e-readers similar to the original Kindle, which featured two parts – one area for the text, and the other for a scrollable wheel. More importantly though, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, also features an e-ink display, and a smaller LCD which could be a violation of the patent.

The actual patent reads:

A handheld electronic book reader device is equipped with dual displays. The device includes a first display for presenting visible representations of textual or graphic content related to the electronic book. The device also includes a second display positioned alongside the first display. The second display includes a plurality of graphic elements that correspond to portions of the first display. Also, the second display is responsive to user input to one of the graphic elements to perform an action on the content that is shown in the portion of the first display that corresponds to the one element.

It is a fairly broad patent that covers several possible applications, including the Nook’s current design. No word on whether or not Amazon will purse the Nook legally, but the patent ruling gives them the option, and a costly legal battle would likely ensue.

The website Go Rumors was the first to break the story, which might seem odd with two such huge companies involved and such potentially massive repercussions from the patent, but Amazon was careful with its filing; it agreed to not file corresponding foreign-patents- that require up to a four year wait- which means that it was not required to publish the patent application. In other words, no one saw this coming.

This story is just getting going. Even if Amazon magnanimously decides not to go after their bitter rival’s competing e-Reader, it could hamper any future development for Barnes & Noble’s e-Readers. If that happens, or if Amazon attempts to stop the Nook, expect some serious lawsuits. More on this as it develops.

Showing 8 comments

TIny Dancer at 3:26am 30th July 2010 That's novel? This is a perfect example of why people despise patents. Stupid patent grants. Stupid patent examiner. Stupid Amazon.
Daniel at 4:35am 12th July 2010 It sounds like a Nintendo DS with the book cartridge "100 Classic Books" plugged in. Once you plug in the cartridge, the DS is a book reader.
Tango at 2:45am 11th July 2010 I believe the original patent application was filed in March of 2006...
Tim at 7:33pm 10th July 2010 Obviously, no one here is a patent attorney. First, if the patent examiner was aware of any anticpating prior art, they would not have issued this patent in the first place. However, without actually reading the patent, my intuition is that this patent probably skirts on the edge of obviousness, and the only way they had it issued was by narrowing the scope of the patent substantially. Therefore, it is not as broad as you all think it is and that it's easily designed around. i.e. get rid of the 'second display' and you're in prior art non-infringing territory. I really don't think this patent will do much for Amazon. Srategically, I doubt they'll be willing to have the validity of the patent challenged in an infringement action. Losing would just be bad PR.
NotATroll at 4:24pm 10th July 2010 DarkMatter, I respectfully disagree. A claim term like "alongside" is unlikely to be so narrowly construed by a court as to exclude the top or bottom. It's certainly an argument that could be made, but I don't think it's a winner. The phrases "alongside the bottom" and "alongside the top" are frequently used, which also suggests that "alongside" should not be narrowly read to only refer to the sides. Unless there is evidence in the prosecution history that supports your reading, I just don't think it's the right reading of the term.
DarkMatter at 3:19pm 10th July 2010 Notice the patent says " a second display positioned alongside the first display"...on the Nook, the second display isn't alongside. It's BELOW the first display. This careless choice of wording allows any manufacturer to design dual display e-readers, as long as the second display isn't BESIDE the first. Put it at the top....put it at the bottom...neither one technically violates the patent. Take THAT, Amazon!
sammy at 12:37am 10th July 2010 i was hoping the back of the ipad would have an e ink display :(
DeusImperator at 12:08am 10th July 2010 have you never heard of prior art?