PR NEWSWIRE — Mar 15 — Friendster (40 million members) was awarded a patent titled, "System and Method for Managing Connections in an Online Social Network"( U.S. Patent No. 7,188,153 B2). The third in a growing portfolio of patents granted to Friendster, highlighting the company’s innovation in online social networking. Specifics disclosed in the patent include adding friends, personalizing your profile through arranging, ordering and classifying connections made in an online community, and managing these connections at will. Said VP Marketing, David Jones, "Friendster laid the groundwork upon which online social networking is built. This validates and protects our heritage as a pioneer." In July ’06, Friendster was awarded its first U.S. patent illustrating and describing how people are connected in the context of an online social network titled, "A System, Method and Apparatus for Connecting Users in an Online Computer System Based on Their Relationships within Social Networks" ( U.S. Patent No. 7,069,308). In October 2006, Friendster received a second U.S. patent which discloses the process of enriching other user’s profiles with text, video, pictures and additional content titled, "Method of Inducing Content Uploads in a Social Network" (U.S. Patent No. 7,117,254).
2 thoughts on “Friendster’s Third Patent”
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Friendster’s Third Patent
PR NEWSWIRE — Mar 15 — Friendster (40 million members) was awarded a patent titled, "System and Method for Managing Connections in an Online Social Network"( U.S. Patent No. 7,188,153 B2). The third in a growing portfolio of patents granted to Friendster, highlighting the company’s innovation in online social networking. Specifics disclosed in the patent include adding friends, personalizing your profile through arranging, ordering and classifying connections made in an online community, and managing these connections at will. Said VP Marketing, David Jones, "Friendster laid the groundwork upon which online social networking is built. This validates and protects our heritage as a pioneer." In July ’06, Friendster was awarded its first U.S. patent illustrating and describing how people are connected in the context of an online social network titled, "A System, Method and Apparatus for Connecting Users in an Online Computer System Based on Their Relationships within Social Networks" ( U.S. Patent No. 7,069,308). In October 2006, Friendster received a second U.S. patent which discloses the process of enriching other user’s profiles with text, video, pictures and additional content titled, "Method of Inducing Content Uploads in a Social Network" (U.S. Patent No. 7,117,254).
2 thoughts on “Friendster’s Third Patent”
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I was wondering whether Friendster is building a defensive patent portfolio, or thinking about licensing the industry, but I really think it’s the former. I only read the abstracts, but it seems like the patents are pretty specifically about the way they use “degrees of separation.” The news articles only quote the titles and make it sound more like the patents cover the whole dating and social networking industries.
The original patent filing date is June 16, 2003. I don’t think Friendster’s going to go on the offensive because it seems like there is some prior art in the “degrees of separation” field. I remember getting email from sixdegrees.com in 1998 or so. Maybe it doesn’t apply, but it will come up if they go to court.
So long as it’s defensive, or they have a legitimate gripe, I say good for them.
The patents (uspto.gov):
http://tinyurl.com/2pxhcx
Sixdegrees.com:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SixDegrees.com
What’s a defensive patent portfolio?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patent#Defensive_patents -
I saw http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com/news/2007/03/friendsters_thi.html and wanted to mention a useful site: http://www.FreePatentsOnline.com
It provides free patent searching, free PDF downloading, allows annoting documents and sharing them, and free alerts for new documents.
If you have a spot, a link to let your users know abou the site would be great.

I was wondering whether Friendster is building a defensive patent portfolio, or thinking about licensing the industry, but I really think it’s the former. I only read the abstracts, but it seems like the patents are pretty specifically about the way they use “degrees of separation.” The news articles only quote the titles and make it sound more like the patents cover the whole dating and social networking industries.
The original patent filing date is June 16, 2003. I don’t think Friendster’s going to go on the offensive because it seems like there is some prior art in the “degrees of separation” field. I remember getting email from sixdegrees.com in 1998 or so. Maybe it doesn’t apply, but it will come up if they go to court.
So long as it’s defensive, or they have a legitimate gripe, I say good for them.
The patents (uspto.gov):
http://tinyurl.com/2pxhcx
Sixdegrees.com:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SixDegrees.com
What’s a defensive patent portfolio?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patent#Defensive_patents
I saw http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com/news/2007/03/friendsters_thi.html and wanted to mention a useful site: http://www.FreePatentsOnline.com
It provides free patent searching, free PDF downloading, allows annoting documents and sharing them, and free alerts for new documents.
If you have a spot, a link to let your users know abou the site would be great.