Facebook Gets Patent on Social Gift Giving

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How did Facebook get a patent on "giving gifts and displaying assets in a social network environment?"

Facebook has been on a roll of late, nailing a number of patent grants that will help it retain dominance in social networking by creating barriers for competitors. Yesterday came patent number 7,970,657, Giving gifts and displaying assets in a social network environment.
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At this rate, if they didn't bribe all the people to be able to get these patents, they'd probably be able to pay off the US debt.
 
*snooze* Social Network gift giving? OH MY GOD THEY PATENTED THE POKE. EVERYONE IS FUCKED NOW
 
Downward Spiral... I am not surprised to see crap like this anymore. But every time I do, I cant help but be completely embarrassed by the stupidity of a vast majority of this country.
 
Leveraging unclaimed virtual assets for their benefit. Who woulda thunk?
 
Read an article about the patent office the other day, can't find it right now, basically what they said is that the patent office is totally understaffed for the amount of patents that are filed. The result is that if a patent looks half way reasonable and doesn't blatantly run afoul with an existing patent then it is granted.

Whomever they interviewed said that the courts usually sort out patent issues later as seen with the Microsoft XML in Word thing.

Basically one government office who's primary objective it is to deal with patents is offloading that work to the courts who shouldn't be dealing with "clerical errors". I fully expect this patent to be reversed in due time, though not many entities will have the cash to challenge Facebook in court over this.
 
ZenDragon said:
Downward Spiral... I am not surprised to see crap like this anymore. But every time I do, I cant help but be completely embarrassed by the stupidity of a vast majority of this country.
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Yup. Just as you can patent anything and everything, no matter how trivial or small, you can also sue for any reason.
 
Thuleman said:
Read an article about the patent office the other day, can't find it right now, basically what they said is that the patent office is totally understaffed for the amount of patents that are filed. The result is that if a patent looks half way reasonable and doesn't blatantly run afoul with an existing patent then it is granted.

Whomever they interviewed said that the courts usually sort out patent issues later as seen with the Microsoft XML in Word thing.

Basically one government office who's primary objective it is to deal with patents is offloading that work to the courts who shouldn't be dealing with "clerical errors". I fully expect this patent to be reversed in due time, though not many entities will have the cash to challenge Facebook in court over this.
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"USA Outsources Patent Office to India"
 
Given the fact taht pretty much every other patent suck just as much, this does not surprise. I agree with any call for patent reform.
 
Would STEAM be classed as social networking, and would giving a gift to a friend on STEAM infringe on this patent?
 
Facebook was not even the first one to do social networking gifts so wtf?
 
seriously who gives a shit if fuckheadbook patents 'gifts'.

i'd be more worried about gene patenting. your big multinational drug companies are going to sell 'bits of you' back to you, for a modest premium of course...
 
cuz every dollar you spend for anything you are paying for patents. Not just tech, even vegetables you eat are patented to reflect certain strains or growth processes....
 
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