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december 01, 2003
Social software och patent
I New York Times-artikeln Idea for Online Networking Brings Two Entrepreneurs Together diskuteras patent kring social software.
The last few months have brought a flurry of new Web sites devoted to social networking - that is, helping people use friends of friends to do such things as find better dates or more lucrative jobs. Now, as some industry insiders rush to protect their intellectual property in this arena, others are murmuring about an impending patent war that they expect to bring an industry shakeout.
Friendster, one of the better-known social networking sites and, at nine months, one of the oldest, has been joined by sites like Tickle, Zero Degrees, Spoke and Ryze. Spoke, a networking site for salespeople, has boasted that it has 15 pending patent applications, although the applications have not yet been published, and the company has not disclosed details.
Now come Tribe and LinkedIn, sites started last summer, whose owners paid $700,000 in September to YouthStream Media Networks for United States patent No. 6,175,831, also known as the "six degrees patent," which they consider the seminal social networking patent. It covers an online software platform that allows users to build relationship networks.
Posted by hakank at december 1, 2003 07:43 EM Posted to Social Network Analysis/Complex Networks