Can you really patent basic photography studio methods that have already been used, documented, photographed, and video taped for decades?

Thought the peanut butter sandwich patent was a joke? That one doesn’t even register a chuckle compared to a patent recently granted to amazon.com. The e-commerce giant now can claim a legal monopoly on the process of photographing people and things against a white backdrop.

The patent, issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office, is making some folks in the photography community do a double-take. Amazon’s patent, called Studio Arrangement, details a specific arrangement of elements in a photography studio that the company believes helps foster the production of the most aesthetically pleasing images.

The white-backdropped photo and video studio layout, which looks and sounds similar to basically every other photo studio in existence, includes: “A front light source aimed at a background, an image capture position located between the background and the front light source, an elevated platform positioned between the image capture position and the background, and at least one rear light source positioned between the elevated platform and the background.”

More: Amazon’s Latest Patent Is Sillier Than the Peanut Butter Sandwich Patent