[spolsky]

If you want to help, post this patent application to askpatents.com and get some feedback on prior art published there that a patent examiner can find.

This wouldn't be the first time Uber has tried to patent something obvious (http://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/5900/mobile-taxi-...) and I'm sure that they will keep whacking away at bad patents until one slips through. There's very little cost to them to file, and if they are lucky enough to get a bad patent accepted, I'm sure they'll be delighted to use it to block competition.

[trackme]

Some info on what constitutes Prior Art for those interested in participating on Ask Patents

Prior art is any evidence that your invention is already known. Prior art does not need to exist physically or be commercially available. It is enough that someone, somewhere, sometime previously has described or shown or made something that contains a use of technology that is very similar to your invention.

http://www.epo.org/learning-events/materials/inventors-handb...