Facebook on trial for alleged patent infringement

Social media giant Facebook has gone to trial for the alleged infringement of the patents of a Dutch computer programmer, the Associated Press reported. 

According to the source, Rembrandt Social Media is suing Facebook, although Joannes Van Der Meer, who filed the patents in question in 1998, died in 2004. However, Facebook says the methods that Van Der Meer had patented were general and obvious.

Van Der Meer had conceived of a website called "Surfbook," which would have held functions similar to Facebook's. However, Surfbook was never able to come to fruition. Facebook was established in 2003, and Van Der Meer's patents were issued during the two years prior. 

As the AP reports, Facebook spent a year trying to make sure the case did not go to trial in front of a jury. Although Facebook has faced previous patent lawsuits, the company is concerned that this one could result in millions of dollars in losses if it is determined that they are guilty of infringing these patents, even though they believe the patents were too general. 

As we have discussed previously on this blog, patents are intended to cover specific inventions or procedures to allow inventors to protect their unique intellectual property. If a patent is found to be too general, it may not hold up in court. Since this case is going in front of a jury, the results will depend on what they are able to determine. 

This is not the first time Facebook has been faced with a patent infringement lawsuit. In 2012, the social network was sued by Yahoo for alleged infringement of more than 10 patents.

Patent trials can be drawn-out and result in costly litigation. A Phoenix small business attorney can help companies determine a strategy to protect valued intellectual property from would-be infringers. 

Categorised in: Intellectual Property Law

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