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Facebook Sued By Rembrandt IP For Two Patent Violations

Posted by timothy on from the paint-me-a-picture dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Ars is reporting that the patent-holding company, along with the heirs of Dutch programmer, Joannes Jozef Everardus Van Der Meer (deceased 2004), have filed suit against Facebook for violating two patents relating to social media web sites. The two patents in question were filed for back in 1998, a full four years before Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg first entered university at Harvard. Among the claims made in the lawsuit is that Facebook's "Like" button violates one of Van Der Meer's patents. Facebook even cited one of Van Der Meer's patents in one of their own filings later on. The suit seeks unspecified damages."

3 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. Can we kill software patents now? by Nemyst · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Please. I hate Facebook as much as the next guy, but this is just ridiculous.

  2. Re:Can someone explain why it's reasonable... by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can someone explain why it's reasonable to have patents and copyrights continue to exist after the original author is dead?

    Imagine that you create something and then die the next day. You and your heirs will never get any reward for your creation. Now imagine that you die and, instead of passing your house and posessions to your heirs, the government takes it all. Ultimately, ownership of anything (physical or intellectual) is possible only because laws allow you to own it.

    The real problem with copyright is not that they continue to exist after the author is dead, but that the terms are far too long. Patents are not too long, but are granted for things that are obvious and not inventive.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  3. Re:Can someone explain why it's reasonable... by sjames · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's cheaper to hire a hit-man than to fight a patent suit...