Amazon photo patent: subject on white background

I am not at all sure why Amazon would bother to patent this. And it's not a patent about using a white background, it's a patent on their specific arrangement of lights that get that seamless white background. Why patent this? It can't possibly be enforceable, even if another photographer uses that same arrangement of lights, how could Amazon prove it and why would they spend the money to prosecute it? It's possible Amazon did this simply to ensure that someone else could not patent it before them and thus try to keep Amazon from using the lighting arrangement they prefer.

I imagine not, but what do I know? That's just my opinion on the subject, I have no qualifications whatsoever.

Its Amazon being evil. Seriously. It is.

heza said:

Is this overreaching?

Click to expand...

Yes, but it's nothing that hasn't been done many times over the last few decades. This is just the latest example that the US Patent system is pretty much broken.