DU, especially the Lounge is NOW ILLEGAL!!!!

Friendster Wins Patent

After emerging from debt, Friendster wins a patent on social networking.
July 6, 2006

Friendster said Thursday that it has received a patent that covers online social networks, one the company had applied for long before its decline and recent recapitalization.



The U.S. patent, which was awarded June 27, is extremely general, and would seem to cover the activities of many other sites, especially those like LinkedIn that allow people to connect within a certain number of degrees of separation.



Naming Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams, who has left the company, as inventor, the patent refers to a “system, method, and apparatus for connecting users in an online computer system based on their relationships within social networks.”

http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=17498&hed=Friendster+Wins+Patent

OK, since DU is geared toward Democrats, a political but also social group, and the Lounge is a system for connecting users, through online computers, I think we are now in violation of this patent. Granted this patent was applied for in 2003, we have been around since 2001, I say we have prior art!

Just silly news for the day. :)

I know of two patents that are.

One is design for a fretboard on a guitar that was first done in the 1740s. The patent was granted like 15 years ago.

Another is for a 7 string guitar, granted about ten years ago, when they've been commercially available from various companies since the sixties.

I'm a computer geek, and I laughed at Amazon's "One Click Purchase" patent, hell, the patent above has prior art going back to the late 1970s(BBSes) and the Early Arpanet. They aren't the only ones, its actually not UNUSUAL for companies to file submarine patents for the sole purpose of litigating their way into success. If you look at this list of Software patents, notice that many of the "inventions" are actually algorithms. Now, I'm not a Mathematician by any means, but aren't algorithms basically mathematical formula that is DISCOVERED rather than invented. Mathematics, as far as I'm aware of, is the actual language of the Universe, we didn't invent the formula to calcualate gravitational acceleration, it was discovered. As far as I'm aware of, Patents are supposed to cover actual inventions, not discoveries. I wonder if I can patent "x=x+1", which is a simple formula for counters in programs, I think I'll try that!