10 most wanted patents

Electronic Frontier Foundation has a Patent Busting Project's which lists ten most-wanted patents—the ones that pose the biggest threat to the public domain.What makes these patents among the worst of the bunch? Try the fact that their owners are threatening and filing suits against small businesses, individuals and nonprofits, not to mention the threats to free expression and innovation that each of them pose.

Find more about the Patent Busting Project & How big is this patenting problem ?

Every year numerous illegitimate patent applications make their way through the United States patent examination process without adequate review. The problem is particularly acute in the software and Internet fields where the history of prior inventions (often called “prior art”) is widely distributed and poorly documented. As a result, we have seen patents asserted on such simple technologies as:



One-click online shopping (U.S. Patent No. 5,960,411.)

Online shopping carts (U.S. Patent No. 5,715,314.)

The hyperlink (U.S. Patent No. 4,873,662.)

Video streaming (U.S. Patent No. 5,132,992.)

Internationalizing domain names (U.S. Patent No. 6,182,148.)

Pop-up windows (U.S. Patent No. 6,389,458.)

Targeted banner ads (U.S. Patent No. 6,026,368.)

Paying with a credit card online (U.S. Patent No. 6,289,319.)

Framed browsing; (U.S. Patent Nos. 5,933,841 & 6,442,574.) and

Affiliate linking (U.S. Patent No. 6,029,141.)