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The Facebook Patent Wars

by Heidi White
2 replies
I found a series of articles on BNET about Facebook's aggressive attempts to protect their social media dominance by getting patents which will make it harder for competitors, including Google to utilize key social networking services in their Social platforms - if Facebook got their first - or already bought the patents from other companies, like Friendster.

Facebook Locks Down an Important Patent on Social Gift Giving

>>Read more: Facebook Locks Down an Important Patent on Social Gift Giving | BNET

Facebook Gets Broad Patent on Digital Media Tagging

>>Read more: Facebook Gets Broad Patent on Digital Media Tagging | BNET

Facebook Seeks Patent on Passing Personal Info Between Users

>>Read more: Facebook Seeks Patent on Passing Personal Info Between Users | BNET

New Facebook Patent: the Huge Implications of Curated Search [Update]

>>Read more: New Facebook Patent: the Huge Implications of Curated Search [Update] | BNET
#facebook #patent #patents #roll #seeking #wars
  • Profile picture of the author JamesGw
    How the hell did Facebook get a patent for social gift giving?
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    • Profile picture of the author Heidi White
      Originally Posted by JamesGw View Post

      How the hell did Facebook get a patent for social gift giving?
      LOL - same way they trademarked 'FACE' - Really good Intellectual Property Attorneys! (Fenwick & West LLP?)

      Partial descriptions of the 'invention' from the patent:

      BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

      1. Field of the Invention

      The present invention relates generally to social networks, and more particularly to automatically displaying gifts and purchases to members of a social network.

      2. Description of Related Art

      Conventionally, a user of a networking website connects with other users by providing information about the user to a social network website for access by the other users. For example, a user may post contact information, background information, current job position, hobbies, and so forth. Information about personal events may also be posted by a user, for example on personal webpages, web logs (BLOGS), etc. Such posts may include information about gifts received, gifts given, purchases made, etc. Other users may contact the user and/or review information about the user based on common interests or for any other reason.

      Recently, social networking websites have developed systems for tailoring connections between various users. For example, users may be grouped based on geographical location, job type, and so forth. Social networking offers users the opportunity for frequent, automatic notification of changes in the information posted by other users. There are existing mechanisms that allow a user to display information about other users within a group. Typically, however, these mechanisms require some initiative on the part of the user and are not displayed in a coherent, consolidated manner.
      US Patent 7,970,657
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