Facebook facing legal action over "like" buttonFebruary 11, 2013 - 17:03 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Facebook is facing legal action over its use of the "like" button and other features of the social network. According to BBC News, it is being sued by a patent-holding company acting on behalf of a dead Dutch programmer Joannes Jozef Everardus van Der Meer. Rembrandt Social Media said Facebook's success was based, in part, on using two of Van Der Meer's patents without permission. Facebook said it had no comment to make on the lawsuit or its claims. A lawsuit has been filed in a federal court in Virginia by Rembrandt Social Media. "We believe Rembrandt's patents represent an important foundation of social media as we know it, and we expect a judge and jury to reach the same conclusion based on the evidence," said lawyer Tom Melsheimer from legal firm Fish and Richardson, which represents the patent holder. Rembrandt now owns patents for technologies Van Der Meer used to build a fledgling social network, called Surfbook, before his death in 2004. Van Der Meer was granted the patents in 1998, five years before Facebook first appeared. Surfbook was a social diary that let people share information with friends and family and approve some data using a "like" button, according to legal papers filed by Fish and Richardson. The papers also say Facebook is aware of the patents as it has cited them in its own applications to patent some social networking technologies. Also cited in the same legal claim was another social media company called Add This. Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | Putin congratulates Pashinyan’s birthday Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on his birthday on June 1. Opposition motorcade en route to Gyumri for large rally A motorcade of protesters headed by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan is heading to the city of Gyumri. Ruling MPs, Foreign Minister talk Armenia-Azerbaijan processes MOs from the ruling Civil Contract party met with the Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in the Armenian parliament. Russia: Armenia’s frozen membership weakens CSTO position in Caucasus A Russian envoy said any step that could alienate the CSTO member states from each other is “deeply wrong”. |