Do you sign into your MySpace account eight times a day? Perhaps Facebook has become your home away from home. Frankly, I hope not. But the latest news about Friendster’s patent on social networks should relax that sort of dedicated soul, and more normal users.
In case you haven’t been watching this story develop, Friendster was recently issued a patent that seems to cover much of what defines many social networking sites. The application was filed quite some time ago; since then, Friendster’s popularity has, um, not exactly skyrocketed. There has been some concern that Friendster might use the newly granted patent against its more successful competitors.
Adam Seifer, the co-founder of SixDegrees (another social networking site), discussed the matter with Boing Boing. In the interview, he claimed that SixDegrees already owned a highly similar patent. And since they haven’t sued MySpace, Facebook, and all the rest, that might mean Friendster won’t. Or can’t – if the patent is already “taken,” Friendster might lack the legal foothold necessary to start tossing around lawsuits.
“I don’t know a lot about the nuances of the patent process, but based on what the Friendster patent application looks like (from a cursory glance), it sure seems to have a lot of similarities to the sixdegrees patent – it should be really interesting to see if it gets granted and what the current owners of the sixdegrees patent decide to do about it,” said Seifer to Boing Boing.
While there are no concrete reassurances here, all you MySpace fans probably don’t need to get too concerned about its future.
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Doug is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest eBusiness news.
