
Google Files "FriendRank" Patent (identifies the most influential of a circle of friends) - nickb
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220080162260%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20080162260&RS=DN/20080162260
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tomek
Software patents sereve no purpose other than inhibiting the progress of us a
a species. And lawyers go "YES!".

And about Google: That's how it starts. Let's see when everyone's favorite
Google changes their motto into "Don't be too evil".

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cstejerean
If Google didn't file for it chances are some patent troll would. I agree that
patents are evil but sometimes they're necessary for defense (see Barracuda
fighting back against Trend Micro)

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jrockway
I thought Google was against software patents.

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briansmith
Even if you are against software patents, you have to file them unless you
want other people to use them against you. For example, if Facebook had
patented this technique then Google wouldn't be able to use it without
licensing it from Facebook, or spending a ton of money to dig up prior art.

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teamonkey
Surely all they need to protect themselves is publish a paper outlining the
method into the public domain?

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sfg
I think its more about building a patent arsenal so that when other large
software companies think about enforcing a patent against Google they will get
scared off due to the risk of a counter action.

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esja
True, but you can't get to "no patents" via "more patents". If Google are
genuinely against software patents, they should not participate, and fight
them by other means, including entering "patent disarmament" agreements with
other large companies.

Organisations change, and the Google of tomorrow will probably be riddled with
machiavellians and sociopaths, who consider the growing arsenal of software
patents quite useful.

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phd2000
I thought about this idea for awhile after reading Link, but it would be very
to theorize unless I had access to data for a huge social network.

And it's not just the most influential, but you can further break it down to
by finding who are the early adopters, connectors, and evangelist of the
group. This I think would be the holy grail for any advertiser.

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schtog
Are all Google's algorhitm open for use by anyone?

I mean PageRank and this for example. Do they patent just so noone else can
steal it or I have to license PageRank from Google in order to use it?

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jsb
The Google index algorithm is a trade secret. Whatever they published while at
school is available and is often studied in search engine classes, but the
most recent version algorithm is probably only available to only the most
necessary people. PageRank is part of this algorithm but isn't the only part
in determining where a result will fall.

This "FriendRank" algorithm will also be a trade secret. The patent here based
on my quick scan is patenting the method that they will use to advertise to
people using this FriendRank through Google's services or future services. For
example, where it will be placed on the screen and how it will look.

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Anon84
Unfortunately, it doesn't really describe the algorithm. It would be
interesting to see what the differences with vanilla PageRank might be.

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BRadmin
so the more popular (or 'influential') I am the more ads I'll have on my
profile?

filed only a year and a half ago -- pretty quick!

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yagibear
It's just a provisional application so far => not so quick.

