Re: [Air-L] Microsoft Social Networking Patent Application
lol At 12:52 Uhr -0700 28.4.2008, info@peertopatent.org wrote:
Dear Friends,
Microsoft has a patent application posted on the Peer-to-Patent site (http://www.peertopatent.org) for Recommending contacts in a social network. It is posted here http://www.peertopatent.org/patent/20080059576/activity.
We are soliciting your help and that of the communities you know in finding prior art that will help the Patent Office to examine this application and determine if it deserves a twenty-year grant of rights to prevent all others from making, using, or selling this invention (this includes any research and R&D that would touch upon the claims of the invention, if patented). Can you let people know about this opportunity? We invite them to submit: 1) prior art, 2) to annotate the prior art submitted by others, 3) to vote on the relevance of the public submissions, and 3) to suggest fruitful avenues for research for the USPTO when examining this application.
Peer-to-Patent is not just another blog, wiki or website. It is an "extension" of the government institution! Posted information will be forwarded directly to the United States Patent and Trademark Office and be used in the examination process.
Here's a bit more detail about the application and about Peer-to-Patent:
Recommending contacts in a social network A method and system for recommending potential contacts to a target user is provided. A recommendation system identifies users who are related to the target user through no more than a maximum degree of separation. The recommendation system identifies the users by starting with the contacts of the target user and identifying users who are contacts of the target user's contacts, contacts of those contacts, and so on. The recommendation system then ranks the identified users, who are potential contacts for the target user, based on a likelihood that the target user will want to have a direct relationship with the identified users. The recommendation system then presents to the target user a ranking of the users who have not been filtered out.
Peer-to-Patent is an initiative of New York Law School's Institute for Information Law and Policy in cooperation with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The pilot program allows for public participation in the patent examination process by inviting the public to submit annotated prior art relevant to examining computer and software-related patent applications.
The Peer-to-Patent Web site enables those who sign up to:
--review and discuss posted patent applications
--share research to locate references to relevant earlier publications
--submit these prior art references with an explanation of relevance
--annotate and evaluate submitted prior art
--winnow the top ten prior art references, which, together with commentary, will be forwarded directly to the USPTO
Reviewing patent applications is free and open to all via the Peer-to-Patent Web site at www.peertopatent.org. Bloggers are invited and encouraged to host their own conversations about pending patent applications and then submit prior art via the Peer-to-Patent website. Any assistance y ou can provide by encouraging participation in the Peer-to-Patent review process will be helpful.
Regards,
The Peer-to-Patent Team
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Care to expand on what you find amusing? The Peer-to-Patent project? Or perhaps MSFT's patent application? -mz ----- Michael Zimmer, PhD Microsoft Fellow, Information Society Project Yale Law School e: michael.zimmer@yale.edu w: http://michaelzimmer.org On Apr 28, 2008, at 4:12 PM, Ulf-Dietrich Reips wrote:
lol
At 12:52 Uhr -0700 28.4.2008, info@peertopatent.org wrote:
Dear Friends,
Microsoft has a patent application posted on the Peer-to-Patent site (http://www.peertopatent.org) for Recommending contacts in a social network. It is posted here http://www.peertopatent.org/patent/20080059576/activity.
We are soliciting your help and that of the communities you know in finding prior art that will help the Patent Office to examine this application and determine if it deserves a twenty-year grant of rights to prevent all others from making, using, or selling this invention (this includes any research and R&D that would touch upon the claims of the invention, if patented). Can you let people know about this opportunity? We invite them to submit: 1) prior art, 2) to annotate the prior art submitted by others, 3) to vote on the relevance of the public submissions, and 3) to suggest fruitful avenues for research for the USPTO when examining this application.
Peer-to-Patent is not just another blog, wiki or website. It is an "extension" of the government institution! Posted information will be forwarded directly to the United States Patent and Trademark Office and be used in the examination process.
Here's a bit more detail about the application and about Peer-to- Patent:
Recommending contacts in a social network A method and system for recommending potential contacts to a target user is provided. A recommendation system identifies users who are related to the target user through no more than a maximum degree of separation. The recommendation system identifies the users by starting with the contacts of the target user and identifying users who are contacts of the target user's contacts, contacts of those contacts, and so on. The recommendation system then ranks the identified users, who are potential contacts for the target user, based on a likelihood that the target user will want to have a direct relationship with the identified users. The recommendation system then presents to the target user a ranking of the users who have not been filtered out.
Peer-to-Patent is an initiative of New York Law School's Institute for Information Law and Policy in cooperation with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The pilot program allows for public participation in the patent examination process by inviting the public to submit annotated prior art relevant to examining computer and software-related patent applications.
The Peer-to-Patent Web site enables those who sign up to:
--review and discuss posted patent applications
--share research to locate references to relevant earlier publications
--submit these prior art references with an explanation of relevance
--annotate and evaluate submitted prior art
--winnow the top ten prior art references, which, together with commentary, will be forwarded directly to the USPTO
Reviewing patent applications is free and open to all via the Peer-to-Patent Web site at www.peertopatent.org. Bloggers are invited and encouraged to host their own conversations about pending patent applications and then submit prior art via the Peer-to-Patent website. Any assistance y ou can provide by encouraging participation in the Peer-to-Patent review process will be helpful.
Regards,
The Peer-to-Patent Team
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http:// aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
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Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Yes would any one like to discuss this egoverment patent research system? is this going to put patent clerks out of a job and the consumers will now do the work for the patent office? On 28-Apr-08, at 5:06 PM, Michael Zimmer wrote:
Care to expand on what you find amusing? The Peer-to-Patent project? Or perhaps MSFT's patent application?
-mz
----- Michael Zimmer, PhD Microsoft Fellow, Information Society Project Yale Law School e: michael.zimmer@yale.edu w: http://michaelzimmer.org
On Apr 28, 2008, at 4:12 PM, Ulf-Dietrich Reips wrote:
lol
At 12:52 Uhr -0700 28.4.2008, info@peertopatent.org wrote:
Dear Friends,
Microsoft has a patent application posted on the Peer-to-Patent site (http://www.peertopatent.org) for Recommending contacts in a social network. It is posted here http://www.peertopatent.org/patent/20080059576/activity.
We are soliciting your help and that of the communities you know in finding prior art that will help the Patent Office to examine this application and determine if it deserves a twenty-year grant of rights to prevent all others from making, using, or selling this invention (this includes any research and R&D that would touch upon the claims of the invention, if patented). Can you let people know about this opportunity? We invite them to submit: 1) prior art, 2) to annotate the prior art submitted by others, 3) to vote on the relevance of the public submissions, and 3) to suggest fruitful avenues for research for the USPTO when examining this application.
Peer-to-Patent is not just another blog, wiki or website. It is an "extension" of the government institution! Posted information will be forwarded directly to the United States Patent and Trademark Office and be used in the examination process.
Here's a bit more detail about the application and about Peer-to- Patent:
Recommending contacts in a social network A method and system for recommending potential contacts to a target user is provided. A recommendation system identifies users who are related to the target user through no more than a maximum degree of separation. The recommendation system identifies the users by starting with the contacts of the target user and identifying users who are contacts of the target user's contacts, contacts of those contacts, and so on. The recommendation system then ranks the identified users, who are potential contacts for the target user, based on a likelihood that the target user will want to have a direct relationship with the identified users. The recommendation system then presents to the target user a ranking of the users who have not been filtered out.
Peer-to-Patent is an initiative of New York Law School's Institute for Information Law and Policy in cooperation with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The pilot program allows for public participation in the patent examination process by inviting the public to submit annotated prior art relevant to examining computer and software-related patent applications.
The Peer-to-Patent Web site enables those who sign up to:
--review and discuss posted patent applications
--share research to locate references to relevant earlier publications
--submit these prior art references with an explanation of relevance
--annotate and evaluate submitted prior art
--winnow the top ten prior art references, which, together with commentary, will be forwarded directly to the USPTO
Reviewing patent applications is free and open to all via the Peer-to-Patent Web site at www.peertopatent.org. Bloggers are invited and encouraged to host their own conversations about pending patent applications and then submit prior art via the Peer-to-Patent website. Any assistance y ou can provide by encouraging participation in the Peer-to-Patent review process will be helpful.
Regards,
The Peer-to-Patent Team
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http:// aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
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Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Can we avoid the snark? I feel like the quality of list discussions has really....degraded....lately. There is a reason that the USPTO takes several *years* to clear a patent. Although there are no doubt concerns with the Peer-to-Patent system that I would be interested in hearing about (as there are with any system, good or bad), the one about "consumers doing work for the patent office" misses the boat. There are a very small number of patent officers, and because they are stretched quite thin, they are often assigned to analyze patents that are only tangentially related to their areas of expertise. Having a system like this allows people who may be much more intimately acquainted with a method to simply generate leads for examiners regarding prior claims. As an added bonus, it appears to add a pleasant and *much* needed level of transparency to the process, as anyone who has tried to navigate the patent office's official website could tell you. The information has long been freely available, but you wouldn't think so to try and find it. Personally, at it's worst, I think someone might be able to call this system superfluous. but from the bit I skimmed it, it seems quite useful and as though it may solve several problems that have plagued the patent office for years. -Alexis + -------- redheadedstepchild.org ------- + On Mon, 28 Apr 2008, Peter Timusk wrote: ::Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:59:54 -0400 ::From: Peter Timusk <ptimusk@sympatico.ca> ::Reply-To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org ::To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org ::Subject: Re: [Air-L] Microsoft Social Networking Patent Application :: ::Yes would any one like to discuss this egoverment patent research ::system? is this going to put patent clerks out of a job and the ::consumers will now do the work for the patent office? :: :: ::On 28-Apr-08, at 5:06 PM, Michael Zimmer wrote: :: ::> Care to expand on what you find amusing? The Peer-to-Patent project? ::> Or perhaps MSFT's patent application? ::> ::> -mz ::> ::> ----- ::> Michael Zimmer, PhD ::> Microsoft Fellow, Information Society Project ::> Yale Law School ::> e: michael.zimmer@yale.edu ::> w: http://michaelzimmer.org ::> ::> On Apr 28, 2008, at 4:12 PM, Ulf-Dietrich Reips wrote: ::> ::>> lol ::>> ::>> At 12:52 Uhr -0700 28.4.2008, info@peertopatent.org wrote: ::>>> Dear Friends, ::>>> ::>>> Microsoft has a patent application posted on the Peer-to-Patent site ::>>> (http://www.peertopatent.org) for Recommending contacts in a social ::>>> network. ::>>> It is posted here ::>>> http://www.peertopatent.org/patent/20080059576/activity. ::>>> ::>>> We are soliciting your help and that of the communities you know in ::>>> finding prior art that will help the Patent Office to examine this ::>>> application and determine if it deserves a twenty-year grant of ::>>> rights ::>>> to prevent all others from making, using, or selling this invention ::>>> (this includes any research and R&D that would touch upon the ::>>> claims of ::>>> the invention, if patented). Can you let people know about this ::>>> opportunity? We invite them to submit: 1) prior art, 2) to ::>>> annotate the ::>>> prior art submitted by others, 3) to vote on the relevance of the ::>>> public ::>>> submissions, and 3) to suggest fruitful avenues for research for the ::>>> USPTO when examining this application. ::>>> ::>>> Peer-to-Patent is not just another blog, wiki or website. It is an ::>>> "extension" of the government institution! Posted information ::>>> will be ::>>> forwarded directly to the United States Patent and Trademark Office ::>>> and ::>>> be used in the examination process. ::>>> ::>>> Here's a bit more detail about the application and about Peer-to- ::>>> Patent: ::>>> ::>>> Recommending contacts in a social network ::>>> A method and system for recommending potential contacts to a target ::>>> user ::>>> is provided. A recommendation system identifies users who are ::>>> related to ::>>> the target user through no more than a maximum degree of ::>>> separation. The ::>>> recommendation system identifies the users by starting with the ::>>> contacts ::>>> of the target user and identifying users who are contacts of the ::>>> target ::>>> user's contacts, contacts of those contacts, and so on. The ::>>> recommendation system then ranks the identified users, who are ::>>> potential ::>>> contacts for the target user, based on a likelihood that the target ::>>> user ::>>> will want to have a direct relationship with the identified users. ::>>> The ::>>> recommendation system then presents to the target user a ranking of ::>>> the ::>>> users who have not been filtered out. ::>>> ::>>> Peer-to-Patent is an initiative of New York Law School's Institute ::>>> for ::>>> Information Law and Policy in cooperation with the United States ::>>> Patent ::>>> and Trademark Office (USPTO). The pilot program allows for public ::>>> participation in the patent examination process by inviting the ::>>> public ::>>> to submit annotated prior art relevant to examining computer and ::>>> software-related patent applications. ::>>> ::>>> The Peer-to-Patent Web site enables those who sign up to: ::>>> ::>>> --review and discuss posted patent applications ::>>> ::>>> --share research to locate references to relevant earlier ::>>> publications ::>>> ::>>> --submit these prior art references with an explanation of relevance ::>>> ::>>> --annotate and evaluate submitted prior art ::>>> ::>>> --winnow the top ten prior art references, which, together with ::>>> commentary, will be forwarded directly to the USPTO ::>>> ::>>> Reviewing patent applications is free and open to all via the ::>>> Peer-to-Patent Web site at www.peertopatent.org. Bloggers are ::>>> invited ::>>> and encouraged to host their own conversations about pending patent ::>>> applications and then submit prior art via the Peer-to-Patent ::>>> website. ::>>> Any assistance y ou can provide by encouraging participation in the ::>>> Peer-to-Patent review process will be helpful. ::>>> ::>>> ::>>> Regards, ::>>> ::>>> ::>>> The Peer-to-Patent Team ::>>> ::>>> ::>>> ::>>> ::>>> ::>>> ::>>> ::>>> ::>>> ::>>> _______________________________________________ ::>>> The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list ::>>> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http:// ::>>> aoir.org ::>>> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: ::>>> http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org ::>>> ::>>> Join the Association of Internet Researchers: ::>>> http://www.aoir.org/ ::>> ::>> _______________________________________________ ::>> The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list ::>> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http:// ::>> aoir.org ::>> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http:// ::>> listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org ::>> ::>> Join the Association of Internet Researchers: ::>> http://www.aoir.org/ ::> ::> ::> ::> ::> ::> _______________________________________________ ::> The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list ::> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org ::> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http:// ::> listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org ::> ::> Join the Association of Internet Researchers: ::> http://www.aoir.org/ :: ::_______________________________________________ ::The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list ::is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org ::Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org :: ::Join the Association of Internet Researchers: ::http://www.aoir.org/ ::
For those who haven't dealt with the patent office before, it might be helpful to know that they often reach out to scholars to see if unpublished or obscure work has been done in this space. It's rare that humanities and social science scholars witness this side of the process, but it's extremely common in the sciences and engineering. The research process involves bringing in scholars who might have an interest. Scholars are also typically very invested in finding prior art because patents like these prevent development in certain areas. For example, such a patent would limit those interested in interactive visualizations of network data. As such, the patent office tends to see collaboration with scholars as quite beneficial. The patent office does not claim to be an expert in all fields and this is why they often reach out. Like Alexis, I'm very excited to see this process become more transparent. I've been sending prior art to the patent office for proposed patents for over 6 years. It's often difficult to find others in the field who know prior art, even though such brainstorming would be super beneficial. For example, when David posted about a visualization project, I was reminded of the people in the visualization community who worked in this space. That's extremely helpful. For those who don't build technology, this who discussion might be irrelevant. But for those who do build systems, patent applications are a big deal. Of course, those of you who study STS might get a kick out of it all the same. Thanks to those who have contributed! danah On Apr 28, 2008, at 2:59 PM, Peter Timusk wrote:
Yes would any one like to discuss this egoverment patent research system? is this going to put patent clerks out of a job and the consumers will now do the work for the patent office?
On 28-Apr-08, at 5:06 PM, Michael Zimmer wrote:
Care to expand on what you find amusing? The Peer-to-Patent project? Or perhaps MSFT's patent application?
-mz
----- Michael Zimmer, PhD Microsoft Fellow, Information Society Project Yale Law School e: michael.zimmer@yale.edu w: http://michaelzimmer.org
On Apr 28, 2008, at 4:12 PM, Ulf-Dietrich Reips wrote:
lol
At 12:52 Uhr -0700 28.4.2008, info@peertopatent.org wrote:
Dear Friends,
Microsoft has a patent application posted on the Peer-to-Patent site (http://www.peertopatent.org) for Recommending contacts in a social network. It is posted here http://www.peertopatent.org/patent/20080059576/activity.
We are soliciting your help and that of the communities you know in finding prior art that will help the Patent Office to examine this application and determine if it deserves a twenty-year grant of rights to prevent all others from making, using, or selling this invention (this includes any research and R&D that would touch upon the claims of the invention, if patented). Can you let people know about this opportunity? We invite them to submit: 1) prior art, 2) to annotate the prior art submitted by others, 3) to vote on the relevance of the public submissions, and 3) to suggest fruitful avenues for research for the USPTO when examining this application.
Peer-to-Patent is not just another blog, wiki or website. It is an "extension" of the government institution! Posted information will be forwarded directly to the United States Patent and Trademark Office and be used in the examination process.
Here's a bit more detail about the application and about Peer-to- Patent:
Recommending contacts in a social network A method and system for recommending potential contacts to a target user is provided. A recommendation system identifies users who are related to the target user through no more than a maximum degree of separation. The recommendation system identifies the users by starting with the contacts of the target user and identifying users who are contacts of the target user's contacts, contacts of those contacts, and so on. The recommendation system then ranks the identified users, who are potential contacts for the target user, based on a likelihood that the target user will want to have a direct relationship with the identified users. The recommendation system then presents to the target user a ranking of the users who have not been filtered out.
Peer-to-Patent is an initiative of New York Law School's Institute for Information Law and Policy in cooperation with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The pilot program allows for public participation in the patent examination process by inviting the public to submit annotated prior art relevant to examining computer and software-related patent applications.
The Peer-to-Patent Web site enables those who sign up to:
--review and discuss posted patent applications
--share research to locate references to relevant earlier publications
--submit these prior art references with an explanation of relevance
--annotate and evaluate submitted prior art
--winnow the top ten prior art references, which, together with commentary, will be forwarded directly to the USPTO
Reviewing patent applications is free and open to all via the Peer-to-Patent Web site at www.peertopatent.org. Bloggers are invited and encouraged to host their own conversations about pending patent applications and then submit prior art via the Peer-to-Patent website. Any assistance y ou can provide by encouraging participation in the Peer-to-Patent review process will be helpful.
Regards,
The Peer-to-Patent Team
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http:// aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
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Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
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Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
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participants (5)
-
danah boyd -
Michael Zimmer -
Peter Timusk -
subbies＠redheadedstepchild.org -
Ulf-Dietrich Reips