Amazon.com has applied for two patents to protect its Honor
System which allows individuals or small businesses to take
payments or donations as small as $1 over their web sites for
pay-per-view content such as information or entertainment. The
applications, both of which include CEO Jeff Bezos in the list of
inventors, were published by the US Patent and Trademark Office on
29th August.
The Honor System utilises Amazon.com’s controversial One-Click
patent and its customer database. Anyone with a web site can apply
for a payment page on Amazon.com to become an Honor System
merchant. The merchant puts a “paybox” on his web site; a visitor
clicks that paybox and is directed to the merchant’s “PayPage” at
Amazon.com.
The customer pays with just one click (if he has previously used
Amazon.com’s services) and then has access to the merchant’s
content. The merchant is then paid by Amazon.com.
The two new patent applications are wider in scope than the
Honor System.
The first application covers a system for collecting payments on
content providers’ web sites and gaining access to individual
digital networks. The second covers a system that allows users to
“define customised pay pages for receiving payments from other
users”, and involves hosted payment pages that “handle the
collection process” and are maintained by payment recipients.
