Friendster patent awarded for social networking

TechCrunch: “Sagging social network Friendster was awarded a patent on some pretty fundamental qualities of online social networking late last month. The patent covers the determining and display of relationships between individuals who have entered personal information into a social network; specifically, determining who is in your circle of friends and who isn’t.”

Talk about bad timing for the patent- Friendster could have really used it 18 months ago. Still, this story should make you wonder about where the line should be drawn for patents on software. I would guess that nearly every major company on the Web along with many major media companies are going to have to answer to Friendster’s legal team at some point in the near future.