Tech patents

==Background==
Patents are also called intellectual property.
Companies and individuals can apply for patents, secure them, and then sue rivals or else require stiff license fees.
Patent controversies are familiar on the internet.
==Links==
===Media===
* Friendster patent could hurt rivals WSJ, July, 2006 -- Friendster Inc., known for bringing people together, could wind up making enemies among its peers. The Web company was awarded a patent related to searching for people online based on their relationships, and it expects another patent to come through.
====
* The awarding of patents for the emulation of real-world concepts in virtual enviroments should NOT happen. 
==Links==
* Friendster, MySpace, Facebook.
In 2002, Friendster pioneered social networking via Web sites. Founded by entrepreneur Jonathan Abrams, it struck a nerve among the young and Web savvy, who flocked to the site to track down old friends and meet new people.
* Amazon.com got a patent for "one-click" shopping.
Six Degrees Inc., a now-defunct Web company, was granted a patent for a form of database that could relate to social networking.
"People have been stalking each other on the Internet for years -- from Google vanity searches to lurking on somebody's blog reading what your ex is doing these days," says Jason Schultz, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The San Francisco nonprofit is running a "patent-busting" campaign to combat patents that it sees as illegitimate. "I don't think they've really come up with an innovation for finding people you know," he says.
But Mr. Lindstrom argues that Friendster's founder, Mr. Abrams, who left the company and is preparing to launch a startup called Socializr, invented something original. "Two and a half years ago, you'd never heard of a social network," he says. "Jonathan Abrams did something, and suddenly this new thing existed. Maybe it doesn't seem new now, but it certainly did at the time."
category:technology