

Go Daddy patents “announcing a domain name registration on a social website” - xhrpost
http://domainnamewire.com/2012/09/25/go-daddy-patents-announcing-a-domain-name-registration-on-a-social-website/

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bugsbunnyak
For what it's worth, this doesn't happen in a vacuum. If you want to read the
arguments, enter the patent number 8276057 at this website:

<http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/pair>

Look under the heading "file wrapper" for all the communication. In
particular, read:

    
    
    	 CTNF	Non-Final Rejection
    	 REM	Applicant Arguments/Remarks Made in an Amendment
    	 NPL	Non Patent Literature
             NOA	Notice of Allowance and Fees Due (PTOL-85)
    

The initial rejection (CTNF) is followed by applicant rebuttal (REM), several
prior-art searchs (NPL) and then the acceptance (NOA, first document with 6
pages).

I'm not bored enough to read the whole thing, but the claims seem to have been
some constrained on very technical points.

Please note: this patent is completely bogus, and I am not defending it. I am
pointing this out because I think it is critically important for people to
understand how the process works. Otherwise all this hand-wringing is for
naught (and those who don't learn from history, etc...)

A suggestion for an enterprising web designer who happens to also be a bored
2L: make a website to semi-automate collation of prior art challenges. _Court
is not the only way to challege a patent_. Patents can be challenged by 3rd
parties through an "ex-parte re-examination request". One of the big
limitations to this is the cost of the legal process and prior-art
search/summation. I'm dreaming of a website that would allow crowd-sourcing to
get 95% of the way to a ready-to-file submission, which could then be vetted
and finalized by pro-bono lawyers, students in legal clinic, etc.

~~~
bo1024
For those who haven't seen it:

<http://patents.stackexchange.com/>

(This is the same as askpatents.com)

~~~
matthuggins
And a link to a question specifically pertaining to this patent:

[http://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/535/prior-art-
for...](http://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/535/prior-art-for-godaddy-
patent-announcing-a-domain-name-registration-on-a-social-w)

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jmilloy
No.

GoDaddy _titles_ a patent "Announcing a Domain Name Registration on a Social
Website"

Regardless of your position on US copyright law, you simply must understand
this important and not-so-subtle distinction before you make arguments about
the validity of a patent. There are 18 claims in this patent. Read and
complain about specific claims.

To choose a random example, patent US496217 by Stihl (1990) is titled "Handle
for a chain saw", yet Stihl did not patent handles on chain saws.

~~~
astrodust
"Handle for a chain saw" patents are usually described with language precise
enough they can't do that.

"Method and apparatus for lifting and operating a chain saw" would be more
akin to the useless software patents that are out there.

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bobsy
Wow! What an innovation. I would never have thought of doing this. Its a shame
I won't be able to do this myself now.

Hang on? Isn't everyone already doing this for just about every other online
venture? Someone registered via Facebook -> Post to wall. Hmmm. Maybe I should
copy and paste their patent application and switch out "domain name
registration" for any other service name.

I think it is silly for 2 reason's. Firstly this is not an innovation in any
shape or form. People have been doing this for years with everything. It
shouldn't have been approved. Secondly, GoDaddy have spent time and money
gaining a patent which they can't enforce. Seems silly. I feel they just
wanted to add "using patented technology" in their advertising.

~~~
scott_meade
You seem certain that "everyone already doing this" is doing it in the way
specified in the claims. Are you?

------
efsavage
Patent trolls have had open season on engineers because the lawmakers and
moneymen don't listen to us.

Going after marketers, however, will be their undoing.

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Paul_S
The patent system is like a bug in a software that all your clients rely upon
and will never let you fix. I expect peace in the middle east to happen before
the patent system gets scrapped.

~~~
jeremyarussell
There's still a huge valid question about reform as opposed to scrap. The
system would work if it was actually applied correctly. (I understand
application is part of said system, but I'm referring to the overall human
aspect, ie, the reason AskPatents.com was made.)

~~~
tesseractive
I understand why this is downmodded -- software patents as a whole are pretty
awful. And I think we can just about all agree that the patent office is
incapable of sifting through requests on its own.

But askpatents.com looks to me like it has some potential to work, and if it
did, it might solve at least most of the really heinous examples. I'd say that
at least merits making the possibility of reform an open question.

Forcing a massive shift in IP rights (that may not benefit large, entrenched
interest) through Congress is an enormous undertaking that may not succeed.
Reform may be a more practical option.

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Lasher
Even scarier is their definition of social network. From the patent document:

"Social networking websites may comprise internet-based social networking
services that focus on building and verifying online social networks for
communities of people who may share interests and activities, wish to
communicate with each other efficiently, and may be interested in exploring
the interests and activities of others, and which necessitates the use of
software applications".

In addition to Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn and Facebook they also list YouTube
and Flickr as specific examples. This thing is pretty far reaching.

~~~
derrida
IRC, Email?

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netcan
This is silly. They should have patented "announcing something on the
internet"

~~~
coopdog
on the internet.. using a mobile device!

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bajsejohannes
In gmail, I filter every email from GoDaddy and apply label "change
registrar", just so I'll remember when my domains expire. I'm not really
liking most things I see from GoDaddy; perhaps with the exception of pricing.

~~~
AhtiK
Most of the registrars top up the time your domain has with the current
registrar at the point of transfer. At least Namcheap does.

Be aware of the following 60-day restriction when planning the transfer from
GoDaddy: [http://support.godaddy.com/help/article/3560/transferring-
do...](http://support.godaddy.com/help/article/3560/transferring-domain-names-
to-another-registrar)

~~~
duskwuff
All com/net/org/info registrars do that -- it's an inherent feature of the
registry.

~~~
freejack
That's actually not the case. Godaddy implements this locally, and arguably in
contravention of the ICANN policy.

oBDisclaimer: I participated in the development of the original and amended
ICANN transfer policy. I understand that there has been a subsequent amendment
and I'm just not interested enough anymore to find out what it includes. You
may in fact actually be correct in that ICANN _now_ permits this, although I'm
pretty sure that this isn't the case :-)

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Bud
They should patent "Getting Away With Outrageous Misogyny In A Business That
Would Seem Inhospitable For It"; that's their true and only talent.

~~~
jacalata
but there is so much prior art for that!

------
timrichard
I'd love it if the clerk(s) in question could explain how it isn't "obvious to
a person 'skilled in the relevant art' applying reasonable diligence and
effort."

One thing these characters could patent is a system and method of auto
renewing and parking a domain they host if their site is used to check on it
as it approaches expiry. I give GoDaddy a wide berth.

~~~
bhousel
Be careful what you wish for.

There are pretty well established guidelines for determining the "obviousness"
of a patent, and one of these (as you mention) is determining whether the
patent would be obvious to one with an _ordinary_ level of skill in the
relevant art.

The average software developer can't code fizzbuzz. Therefore anything more
sophisticated than fizzbuzz is potentially patentable.

Think about that. Really let it sink in.

I have come to believe that the problem isn't with software patents, the
problem is with _us_. Most software developers really are that bad. It is easy
to forget this, but the people who hang out on Hacker News are really a slim
minority.

We need to get our own house in order and demand more of the people who
practice this art. Other industries have professional certification or
restrictive guild systems - maybe we need to adopt the same.

------
emehrkay
Damn I need to move that last domain off of Go Daddy. Ill do that today.

~~~
drbawb
Just started my own transfer for one of my domains; I might let the other one
lapse.

This was the last kick in the pants I needed to get off of GoDaddy.

------
djd
I could expect this out of Go Daddy, but should the people approving this
patent also be blamed?

~~~
beedogs
I guess you could try blaming the rubber-stamping machine they're clearly
running these applications through, sure.

~~~
tjr
Just out of curiosity, does anyone have an idea of what sorts of software
patent applications have not been approved?

~~~
moheeb
I heard they determined _The Singularity_ was not innovative enough.

------
shimfish
Maybe someone here can patent the act of making trivial, over-reaching patents
and put a stop to all this?

~~~
jiggy2011
Too much prior art.

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yenoham
I have JUST patented announcing the patent of announcing a domain name
registration on a social website...

You all owe me £1m each ... (I also patented talking about it).

~~~
IanDrake
Genius, however, I had already patented getting a patent on patenting the
announcing of a domain name registration on a social website.

times infinity...

~~~
debacle
Guys, this isn't reddit.

Edit: Or Slashdot.

~~~
IanDrake
Yeah I wouldn't normally post something that ridiculous, but given the state
of the patent system, it seemed worth mocking.

------
OldSchool
Software patents with troll owners have long been the Sword of Damocles for
the bootstrapped startup. This one is probably of no consequence but overall
they represent a barrier to entry that has no basis in natural law. I really
doubt we'll ever see meaningful reform because those who could effect a change
don't have a clue about the technology their laws affect.

------
josaka
The patent's claims are slightly more specific than the title would suggest,
but are still absurdly broad. The patent appears to cover announcing, after a
delay, a domain name registration on a social website using oauth.

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bluetidepro
So, say I buy a domain from Register.com and then manually post it on my
Facebook that I bought this, that isn't Register.com's fault right?

This seems pointless because you could still just encourage people to do it
manually, in another part of the purchase flow, or maybe even a week or two
after? It seems to me that the patent just blocks you from having an official
Facebook share button or Tweet ( _or something like that_ ) button on the
checkout summary page.

~~~
alphazulu
But what are you doing buying from Register.com? Yeesh.

~~~
bluetidepro
...that was just the first competitor example I could think of, I don't
actually purchase my domains from there! :P Haha

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tapsboy
On this basis:

A photo-sharing service can patent "announcing a picture upload on a social
website". A location service can patent "announcing a check-in on a social
website" A restaurant review service can patent "announcing a restaurant
rating on a social website"

It might actually help more such "ridiculous" patents being granted.
Eventually, the non-tech crowd will be affected and the whole system will be
brought into question.

------
roothacker
But that's just a small part of what the sites are doing these days, such as
providing free renewal for the second year in case a user allows connecting
its Facebook Account, and granting permission to the site to publish any
promotion post on the wall of the user(which can be anything more than saying
that user has registered an 'example.com' domain name on register.com).

They should have gone for a wider range of things.

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arieldelafuente
This is just ridiculous. Where does it stop?

And after reading articles like these -
[http://www.law.com/corporatecounsel/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202...](http://www.law.com/corporatecounsel/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202572623576&PTO_Adds_Crowdsourcing_Tool_to_Patent_Application_Process)
\- makes one feel the legal system is aware how outdated and broken it is.

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Narretz
How is this patentable? Isn't this just API stuff?

~~~
eru
Almost everything is patentable. The real test is holding the patent up in
court.

~~~
slowpoke
_> The real test is holding the patent up in court._

Or threatening enough people to sue them for umpteen fantastillion dollars
unless they pay you ransom money^W^W licensing fees.

Remind me why we still have this fucked up system?

------
Hawkee
I don't think this "service" will even be successful. Domainers certainly
don't want to share their business matters with their Facebook friends. And
business owners may spend several months developing a site before publishing
it. No timer can predict when the site is done.

~~~
omarchowdhury
Yeah, but imagine the lay user buying a domain and letting their friends know
about it. Then everyone else is like, "Wow, you got your own dot com!"... "Me
three".

And so Godaddy makes money.

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patentdude
In addition to requiring a delay, the patent claims as allowed require that
you GIVE GODADDY your credentials to the social networking site and that their
server will use the credentials to log you in. Contrary to what some of you
are saying, this is _not_ oath.

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bicknergseng
Hm. Another fairly bogus patent, but who exactly is going to use it anyway?
Even if you had the site already prepared and developed... CNAME and other DNS
jazz takes a day to propagate anyway. You'd end up announcing something that
wasn't there.

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ps2000
This is genius, announcing registrations on Facebook. I have never seen such a
thing.

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mran
How can it be for real? Not surprising tho since the structure of the legal
system and the law as it currently is just cannot keep up with technological
progress.

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mjt0229
I will patent announcing patents on social websites.

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SODaniel
Good to see Godaddy focusing on their core business and keeping secure,
reachable and reliable instead of useless fringe projects.

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Reebz
I'm surprised this was not patented already.

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cridal
You have got to be kidding!

------
bwb
RIP Patent System...

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RoryH
They are going to be patenting sandwiches next!

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protomyth
if some politician would get rid of "business process patents", we would be
90% of the way there.

~~~
bratsche
I was under the impression that those already didn't qualify for patents. At
least, this is what my friend told me years ago when he was either in or had
recently graduated from law school at UT.

Is that not the case?

~~~
gergles
Do a patent office search for "system and method" and you will discover that
they certainly do qualify. There was a period where they did not, but then
some appellate court suddenly decided they do and now you get what we have
here.

