I did pick up the Song a Day gift cards at *$ for a few days. Not only do you get a free song (which you may or may not like -- I found the ones I got enjoyable enough once I ripped the DRM out of them), but the card itself makes a great bookmark!

Maybe that's another way aroun dthe patent: "We're not giving away cards, we're giving away bookmarks."

No offense, this is a pretty idiotic patent. You might as well file this along with Amazon's One Click patent.

Basically, I could come up with some fairly obvious vague idea, patent it, do nothing with it, and then sit back and sue people at an opportune moment for damages quite some time after they have invested heavily in the concept and deployed it.

Right...

I think the idea is dumb but o well, Stick it to thoes apple/Starbucks pricks.

This is why tort reform is necessary. Two words: loser pays.

@Xavoc: Welcome to America, where this happens on a daily basis.

What about those crazy Sony MusicPass cards that you buy at a B&M store then redeem online?

The patent system is really the american dream, just smoke a blunt, get a peace of paper, write down any crazy thoughts you had while high, patent it, and just sit back and wait for the magic to happen. The beauty of it is, you don't have to built nothing & you won't be held liable if anyone gets hurt down the road. Thats great right, its like holding a ticket for the lottery but better. Everytime a hot product is release you just have to check your patent for any similarities just like a lottery ticket, and if you think your product would have had work the same way, you my friend my have a winner

Is this idea even patentable? If it is, then depending on the wording of the patent itself, Apple is very likely infringing on the Driessen's patent - unless the Driessen's were incompetent enough to specifically state that the card must redeemed online "using a home computer".

While we all find patent trolls to be leeches on society and actually obstruct innovation instead of promoting it, as patents are intended, it may also be that the Driessen's actually are trying to do business using their idea in which case I would stongly uphold their legal arguement. (Boo Apple... cheaters)

someone said tort reform in gizmodo?!
reminds me of Will Ferrell debating in Old School...

A gift card for a pre-defined item? I liked it better when it was called a "coupon".

Fucking patent trolls. What an awesome way to stifle creativity.
1. Come up with an idea.
2. Patent it without so much as a proof-of-concept.
3. Wait til the big bad corporations come up with it.
4. Sue.

Die in a fire, James and Marguerite Driessen. And i'm not even an Apple Fanboy.

I wonder if patenting the patent process has already been done? It probably has because I'm not so smart as to come up with something that someone else hasn't already thought of... but if it hasn't... imagine... getting a piece of the action from everyone trying to get a piece of the action?

Hrm... maybe I should post comments BEFORE the toke.

SEE APPLE IS EVIL! Oooh, I like the blue tone to the headers! Nice gizmodopes! (that would be a fan of gizmodo).

Poor patent holders, now they will have to sacrifice millions trying to win back their vague yet useless idea that they could probably not implement themselves if it wasnt sure someone smarter than them.

Sooooooooooo?

@Papercutninja: oK, that is very bloody unreflected. Maybe they didn't have the means to put this into action.
And you simply don't know if they didn't have a proof of concept. So beating up everybody looking like a patent troll just because they might be is also stifling creativity because, according to your logic, everybody who holds a patent and sues for infringement, is a patent troll. So it would not be worth for anyone to go register a patent, because that IS the basic premise of a patent.
Registering which, by the way, is a very tedious and forbidding process, at least in Germany. Try beating up someone your size and not someone you don't know anything about, just because everybody else is beating them up and you feel superior just labeling them patent trolls.

And have you ever, in your entire life, had an idea that would have even made it past the security guard at the patent office? Better don't deride the ones who had, then, because that's really cheap.

@Xavoc: @Papercutninja:

Sorry to burst your bubble, but that is how patents work.

You have an idea that no one came up with, you patent it and if you can (meaning you have the money to bring it to market) you make it and hopefully make more money... or let others make it and pay you royalties for YOUR idea.

But watch out you have a set amount of time to do so... 20 years for a utility patent and 14 years for a design patent... certain patents can be extended.

I sure both of your opinions would be different if you had patented the idea of a device with the same concept as the iPhone.
Do you think wonderful Apple would have paid you million$ of dollars for YOUR idea or just shoved you to the side and made the device anyway?

Good luck to you on getting a lawyer to take your case on a contingency basis... you would need a lot of money to even get it to court.

@ace007:

Man this is unbelievable... okay even if you found enough cash to get to the court, how much moolah will they have to split with the lawyers Eh?

Patent trolls rule ?

hehe, there are lots of patent-troll-trolls here;-)

I have you all beat:

I patened "the ability to think about - come up with or conceive of any idea ever by anyone by using any and every means necessary to do so in the past - present or future"

So anyone and everyone that has profited from any idea thru the history of time and beyond today into the future now owes me royalties for their products that they have created - are creating or will/ may/ might create_

"would allow gift cards for pre-defined items that can be sold at a brick-and-mortar store but used online; customers could redeem a card for a dining room set or a DVD, for example."

This kills their claim as you can not sell or possess a physical copy of electronic data - namely the music_

Walk into Star Bucks and try to redeem the card for a physical AAC or .m4a file_ Not possible_ Just like you can't download a "dining room set" or download an actual DVD [DVD you can only download the content stored on the media]_

Good Luck to the Driessen's - but I see snow balls flying around in hell with this one_

You want Patent fun?
4000 genes in your body are patented.
Go try and figure that out

Apple has some experience in the field of vaguely patentable commercial transactions.

@poorGeek:so I have to pay royalties for having brown eyes or developing a cancerous tumor?

Cool_ So if I get cancer I can expect those fools that have patented the cancer gene and declare ownership - to have to cough up money to pay for the medical costs_ I'm in_
==========

Also - patened the color BLUE - the Number 6 and the letters B - L and O - so Sesame Street needs to starting paying up_

@SeattleTed:

Tort reform = insurers' scam. The point of threat of lawsuits is to keep companies honest. Ford did the math, and found letting 62 people burn up in Pintos was cheaper than fixing the problem Sue the crap out of them, I say.

From what I gather from the drawing, supposing it's the actual patent submission, this looks like a lot of gift cards. I wonder who else this guy is going after. But, yes I agree, it seems most likely iTunes Music Store gift cards is the biggest target with the best chances for payout.

These guys suck. Suing Apple and Starbucks for patent infringement?!?

Sorry. Normally I am for the little guy, but this one is pretty lame. On some level I kinda believe that if you are going to patent something, you have to be able to actually make/execute/produce the patented idea/item.

How do any of you know that these people HAVEN'T implemented their concept? Maybe they're already doing this in some small B&R somewhere. Not every business is a huge franchise with stores in your town.

remember when pepsi was giving away free itunes songs?
just redeem your tunes by entering the code found inside the cap.
they go for the gusto and sue pepsi.

Kahri: If they were a business, the patent would be in the name of the business, not in the name of the couple. B&M means "brick and mortar," they don't actually run a chain of stores called "B&M" (or, as you say, "B&R").

The day the patent office began patenting "business methods" is the day that the patent office became a hindrance to innovation and general good sense.

Good idea, they hired themselves as their own lawyers.

@Serolf Divad: You mean I can't patent "strategic implementation methodology"?

God damn you, David Flores.

On other blogs is says their company is called Vibme and can be found at [www.vibme.com.] The invention is for specific merchandise gift cards. You can't go into wal-mart or toysRus and pick up a gift card for a specific item. You have to get a gift card for a dollar amount and use that towards a general purchase. This really is different.

Damn patent trolls.