Does Friendster.com's Patent prevent all future social networks and current social networks from doing social networks? Are current social networks Infringing? Will myspace,facebook , youtube and others get sued. You can find their patent at www.uspto.gov search friendster What do you guys think? No more myspace,facebook and new social networks?
That would be a huge battle, i think it would end up in a Friendster buyout by either myspace or facebook. Myspace has an alexa rank of 6,Facebook 7 and Friendster 15. Friendsters traffic over the course of the past year has gone up HUGE!! Why? The publicity from the Patent they were issed. They made a HUGE rebound. They were the founding father of social networks and they went from being small to being one of the big players. I think that there patent is a threat to myspace and facebook. My guess is it will result in a Large lump sum buyout. Right now facebook has the upper hand on myspace because of its growth. Not to mention the spam on myspace. The security on facebook, is great. Just my thoughts. -C
i think its stupid patents and all, for social networks i mean.... every one is just copying each other now
It does not mean that there can be no social networking sites. Just that they can't work in the same way as Friendster. This is a process patent, so if yor process is different then there is no infringement, even if it would produce the same or similar results. It is also somewhat questionable as to whether the patent would hold up in a court case. There are parts of it that I am not sure are really patentable, but that would be up to judge to decide.
I'm not even sure any of it would pass muster in a court case. It contains nothing unique that was not already in everyday usage prior to the application to patent it as a 'new and unique' method. FRIENDSTER PATENT LINK The description of this system relates to common everyday database relationships and usage. If anything, it is probably in violation of design mechanisms that Microsoft and MySql and many others have been using and implementing for years. The relationship aspect of their patent has been getting used by dating sites for years, long before this 'new' perception of web 2.0 social networking. It's very possible they have a good friend somewhere within the patents office who has managed to get this thru for them, because really, I'm surprised this even passed the initial inspections! It would obviously require someone who was more clued up on US patent and design law to give a more qualified legal opinion, but just on the bare bones of what can be seen, and some common sense and knowledge of what has been in existence for some time, this looks weak - and nothing more than a publicity stunt.... but one that may well help them bring home a good pay day. However, as bluegrass said, it's just ONE method of processing the data a particular way - doesn;t mean there isn't others!
I'm not surprised that it passed. Junk gets through all of the time that shouldn't. Often times these things end up in the hands of people that don't really understand what the patent describes. In addition, they have added an accelerated application process.
Does that mean Friendster will be suing every myspace, facebook knockoffs? There must be at least 100k smaller social networks out there.
I wish I was a fly-on-the-wall so I could here what myspace, facebook, etc are planning to do about this ridiculous patent.
Any time is the time to sell for $10 billion dollars. Especially if you're 23 years old. I mean wtf can you do with more than a billion any way? It's all just a p1ssing contest after a while. Seriously though patents can be overturned if they are later found to be in violation of other patents.