RSSFriendster Gets Social Network Patent
By Ed Oswald | Published July 7, 2006, 1:01 PM
Struggling social networking site Friendster received a boost Thursday after it learned that it had been awarded a patent for social networking technology. Founder Jonathan Abrams, who has since left the company, developed the methods described in the patent in 2003.
Called "A System, Method and Apparatus for Connecting Users in an Online Computer System Based on Their Relationships within Social Networks," the patent seems to give the site the rights to methods used to describe degrees of separation between users.
According to Friendster, the patent covers methods to calculate and display this separation, as well as providing a way for the user to act upon it. It claims that the invention spurred the uptick now occurring in the social networking industry.
"This patent is the first of many expected to be awarded to Friendster over the next several years and underscores the company's ongoing commitment to innovation in social networking," president Kent Lindstrom said.
The company, one of the first social networking sites on the Web, has struggled to keep pace with competitor MySpace. Even Friendster's president was at a loss to explain why the company had seemed to stand still as MySpace passed it by, telling Red Herring "I have no idea why it happened. For a number of reasons we had trouble scaling for almost a whole year."
However, Friendster is not giving up on the U.S. market. Infused with capital and recently finished with a site redesign that has significantly improved loading times, the company says it plans to refocus on gaining lost share this year.
Does no one remember sixdegrees? It's clearly prior art, and it was around as early as 1997.
Link to the wayback machine:
http://web.archive.org/w...4/http://sixdegrees.com/
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Prior art is something that would be disclosed in a patent application.
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Whatever your thoughts are about patenting business ideas and processes, Friendster appears to have a legitimate enforceable patent. Unlike other patent trolls (e.g. SCO) that don't produce any products and buy other patents for investment and litigation purposes, Friendster has a commercially viable product that is enjoying success, albeit less than MySpace.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that Friendster is soliciting licenses under reasonable terms *snicker* to MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites.
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I'd suspect that the reason MySpace has emerged as the dominant player in the market is largely due to the acquisition of Intermix Media by News Corp. A cash infusion of $580 million has a way of propelling you to the top of the food chain.
Ironically, the MySpace buyout has provided yet-another means for the U.S. government to spy on its own citizens; easily keeping tabs on people foolish enough to post personal data such location, political/social/economic status, etc.
With FOX News spoon-feeding us a steady stream of White House-sanctioned "truth", it will now be even less effort for the spin doctors to assess public perceptions.
Orwell was right . . . just a few decades off on the timing.
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All competition involving social networking is worthy of scrutiny; especially is degrees of separation to young international educational nonprofits seeking to make friends. We at the International Professors Project expect social psychology and the anthroplogy of globalization will learn to pay closer attention to these tech advances.Interesting article.
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For god sake! I think it's time to go request a patent for my latest invention! Walking *in* *the* *street*!
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if you can compete, sue!
hey.. it worked for Rambus...
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unbelievable that something like this is patentable. i shouldn't be surprise because USPTO will issued anything.
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I'm sorry XYZCB1 but you've violated a patent that I hold on "irritated posting": "A method of demonstrating disagreement and anger through a keyboard-based computing apparatus." PTO ID #149873903273.
My lawyers will be in touch.
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Hilarious! And, that is about how far this patenting of "processes" and other "technology" has gone.
It is nothing more than patenting IDEAS in diguise, which, you of course are not supposed to be able to do. I would be amazed if someone could not demonstrate "prior art" in relation to this one. Heck, are we not all performing some social networking just by reading and responding to news on this site?
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lol
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The site only looks better but that's about it. I could've wrote that 'degrees of seperation' algorithm crap in my sleep. Totally useless feature if you ask me. What he still needs to do is get a better server(s) or tweak the database somehow to get that load time down.
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Looks like an impending lawsuit for Tom.
This is how Friendster will make revenue. It won't run a social networking site, it will just sue all the other ones.
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ha!? this is patentable? this is innovation?
taking data and manipulating it to better the process of viewing it?
break the words down, now it sounds like email
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