Patent Ransom (?) - Take #3. Friendster

“Friendster said Thursday that it has received a patent that covers online social networks, one the company had applied for long before its decline and recent recapitalization. The U.S. patent, which was awarded June 27, is extremely general, and would seem to cover the activities of many other sites, especially those like LinkedIn that allow people to connect within a certain number of degrees of separation. Naming Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams, who has left the company, as inventor, the patent refers to a “system, method, and apparatus for connecting users in an online computer system based on their relationships within social networks.”” – reports the Red Herring.

Friendster is hardly back from the graveyard, Founder Jonathan Abrams is alreday busy with his second social network, Socializr, and of course noone knows to what extent Friendster will try to enforce this patent. Whatever happens, to me it’s yet another sign that the entire patent system is clearly in need of serious reforms – and it should be done by people who actually understand technology.