Amazon's one-click patent loses its teeth

The US Federal Circuit court of appeals has dissolved the preliminary injunction that for several years kept barnesandnoble.com from offering its internet customers the one-click shopping that Amazon.com offers. The one-click patent, one of the most derided business method patents, took a heavy thrashing from the Federal Circuit, but it hasn't been knocked out by complete invalidation yet. This decision is interesting, not only because of the notoriety of the one-click patent, but also because the decision illustrates several peculiarities of the patent system and of business-method patents in particular.