
Amazon gets patent on social networks - ashish_0x90
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/061710-amazon-social-network-patent.html
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tkeller
Here we go yet again. They did not patent "A networked computer system [that]
provides various services for assisting users in locating, and establishing
contact relationships with, other users." That's just the abstract. Gotta read
the claims, people. The claims are what tell you exactly what the patent
covers.

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raganwald
To put it another way, compare and contrast the following statements:

 _Amazon's patent covers a networked computer system [that] provides various
services for assisting users in locating, and establishing contact
relationships with, other users._

And:

 _Amazon's patent covers every networked computer system [that] provides
various services for assisting users in locating, and establishing contact
relationships with, other users._

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tkeller
That actually is a good way of highlighting the distinction.

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maqr
It sure doesn't seem like there's anything you can develop these days that
isn't infringing on something; but it also doesn't seem like these kind of
patents are often enforced.

So as a developer, the right thing to do with software patents is simply
ignore them until someone sues you, right?

