[Air-L] Microsoft Social Networking Patent Application

danah boyd aoir.z3z at danah.org
Mon Apr 28 22:41:34 PDT 2008 

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unpublished or obscure work has been done in this space.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 at 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 at 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
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
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- - - - - - - - d a n a h ( d o t ) o r g - - - - - - - -

"i was just a girl in a room full of women
licking stamps and laughing
i remember the feeling of community brewing
of democracy happening" (Ani DiFranco, Paradigm)

musings :: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts

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