Patent

“A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the Patent and Trademark Office. The term of a new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, in special cases, from the date an earlier related application was filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees. US patent grants are effective only within the US, US territories, and US possessions.” (United States Patent and Trademark Office) While taking into consideration social networking sites, patents are a key factor. It is important to note that a patent is granted in order for the inventor to safeguard his/her invention. It is a method of excluding others from using the invention without permission of the inventor respectfully. To understand the importance of patents, it is best to look at some examples of social networking sites and their relation to patents. Today, there has been a surge of social network sites. It is said that at least three new social networking sites are made every day. (Source: Stern, 2006) Out of which, only a mere number are known globally. Such as: Facebook, Friendster, Myspace and so on. All these sites have certain patents and trademarks in place that protects their unique inventions. These inventions are protected by the inventor using patents. I will address some paten cases regarding social networking sites in the next paragraph and attempt to explain the importance, need and where patents stand regarding social networking sites. Before looking into some case studies, it is important to add that patents take a long time to be passed by law due to its complicated nature. a recent study has shown that social network sites are helping to speed up the process of acquiring patents. Social networking software can be used which allows volunteer groups who are review experts to upload references, discussion forums, rate user generated uploads for pending applications. (Source: Digital Communities, news report Feb 23rd) “The aim was to allow the actual patent examiners to focus on reviewing the most relevant prior art associated with any particular submission and so streamline the overall application process.” (Digital Communities Feb 23rd, 2009) An interesting case that deals with patent infringement took place on the 11th of February 2002. The case took place between BT and ISP Prodigy Communications. BT was issued patent number 4,873,662 in America in 1989 which was to expire in 2006. BT claims that ISP has caused damages by infringing BT’s patent of basic navigation method. BT filed a lawsuit where it stated that in June 2000, they contacted ISP regarding the purchase of their hyperlink license. (Source: Loney, 2001) BT won the case and filed for back dated fee charges. This is a clear case of patent infringement. In this case, ISP directly infringed BT’s patent for software navigation. BT won the case simply because of the patent that was issued to them. This case outlines the importance of patents and furthers my point of the importance of acquiring patents for social network sites. Friendster, a popular social network site acquired a patent regarding: “the determining and display of relationships between individuals who have entered personal information into a social network; specifically, determining who is in your circle of friends and who isn’t. The patent application was filed just over three years ago” (Kirkpatrick, 2006) This was a patent pending situation which has finally been passed by the US for Friendster. This gives Friendster the legal writes to seek lawsuits against other social network sites that infringes the patent. Brett Trout, a patent attorney has written an interesting article regarding the “Pitfalls of Social Networking Campaigns”. Social networking campaigns use social network sites as a means for advertising. Trout feels that this is an effective way to advertise because it does not cost much and reaches a good number of potential consumers. Trout also points out that many legal bindings are attached to social network advertising that also correspond to social network legal matters. For example, such advertisement has to have a full disclosure of their products being advertised. This is an interesting topic which addresses legal issues with patents and social network sites. EBay by some is not considered as a social networking site. By social networking site, we mean a means to communicate with individuals. EBay is one of the world’s largest online stores that let consumers and sellers communicate with each other. EBay in 2006 had patent issues regarding a patent concerned with the function of “buy it now”. MercExchange, filed for a patent for the online marketing technology of “buy it now” before EBay started utilizing it. EBay did try to negotiate with MercExchange regarding the purchase of the technology. The deal did not reach a final conclusion and EBay willfully infringed the patent by using the technology on their websites. MercExchange filed a lawsuit regarding patent infringement. The case was clearly won in favor of MercExchange. “MercExchange filed a patent infringement suit against eBay in September of 2001. By May of 2003, a district court ruled in MercExchange's favor and a jury ordered eBay to pay $35 million in damages.” (Mark, 2006) References: 1. Byrnside, I. (2008). Six Clicks of Separation: The Legal Ramifications of Employers Using Social Networking Sites to Research Applicants. Vanderbilt journal of entertainment law & practice, 10(2), 445-477. 2. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/whatis.htm 3. Allen Stern, August 10th 2006- How many How many social networking sites are there today? 4. http://www.govtech.com/dc/articles/621941 5. Naik, P. (2008). Challenges and opportunities in high-dimensional choice data analyses. Marketing letters, 19(3-4), 201-213. 6. Subrahmanyam, K. (2008). Virtual worlds in development: Implications of social networking sites. Journal of applied developmental psychology, 29(6), 417-419. 7. Subrahmanyam, K. (2008). Online and offline social networks: Use of social networking sites by emerging adults. Journal of applied developmental psychology, 29(6), 420-433. 8. Matt Loney 23rd November 2001- Date Set for BT Hyperlink Patent Case; Online Business Toolkit. (http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,2099772,00.htm) 9. Marshall Kirkpatrick July 7, 2006- Friendster awarded patent on social networking: Tech Crunch. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/07/07/friendster-awarded-patent-on-social-networking/) 10. Brett Trout April 25th 2008.- The Legal Pitfalls of Social Network Marketing; Internet Law. (http://blawgit.com/2008/04/25/legal-pitfalls-of-social-networking-marketing/) 11. Roy Mark March 13th 2006, Feds Side Against eBay in Patent Case; Internetnews.com- E-commerce. (http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3591291)