Go Daddy patents “announcing a domain name registration on a social website”

http://domainnamewire.com/2012/09/25/go-daddy-patents-announcing-a-domain-name-registration-on-a-social-website/

by xhrpost • 14 years ago

131 73 14 years ago

domainnamewire.com

Narretz• 14 years ago

How is this patentable? Isn't this just API stuff?

eru• 14 years ago

Almost everything is patentable. The real test is holding the patent up in court.

TazeTSchnitzel• 14 years ago

A test I expect this will fail. Fairly sure there's some prior art for this.

gauravsc• 14 years ago

I guess going by the apple-samsung lawsuit, getting your patent validated in court seems to depend a lot on random chance as well.

slowpoke• 14 years ago

>The real test is holding the patent up in court.

Or threatening enough people to sue them for umpteen fantastillion dollars unless they pay you ransom money^W^W licensing fees.

Remind me why we still have this fucked up system?

OhArgh• 14 years ago

I assume this will only apply to companies in the US. Unless your name is Kim dotcom

djd• 14 years ago

I could expect this out of Go Daddy, but should the people approving this patent also be blamed?

beedogs• 14 years ago

I guess you could try blaming the rubber-stamping machine they're clearly running these applications through, sure.

tjr• 14 years ago

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have an idea of what sorts of software patent applications have not been approved?

timrichard• 14 years ago

I'd love it if the clerk(s) in question could explain how it isn't "obvious to a person 'skilled in the relevant art' applying reasonable diligence and effort."

One thing these characters could patent is a system and method of auto renewing and parking a domain they host if their site is used to check on it as it approaches expiry. I give GoDaddy a wide berth.

bhousel• 14 years ago

Be careful what you wish for.

There are pretty well established guidelines for determining the "obviousness" of a patent, and one of these (as you mention) is determining whether the patent would be obvious to one with an ordinary level of skill in the relevant art.

The average software developer can't code fizzbuzz. Therefore anything more sophisticated than fizzbuzz is potentially patentable.

Think about that. Really let it sink in.

I have come to believe that the problem isn't with software patents, the problem is with us. Most software developers really are that bad. It is easy to forget this, but the people who hang out on Hacker News are really a slim minority.

We need to get our own house in order and demand more of the people who practice this art. Other industries have professional certification or restrictive guild systems - maybe we need to adopt the same.

bluetidepro2• 14 years ago

So, say I buy a domain from Register.com and then manually post it on my Facebook that I bought this, that isn't Register.com's fault right?

This seems pointless because you could still just encourage people to do it manually, in another part of the purchase flow, or maybe even a week or two after? It seems to me that the patent just blocks you from having an official Facebook share button or Tweet (or something like that) button on the checkout summary page.

alphazulu• 14 years ago

But what are you doing buying from Register.com? Yeesh.

bluetidepro2• 14 years ago

...that was just the first competitor example I could think of, I don't actually purchase my domains from there! :P Haha

netcan• 14 years ago

This is silly. They should have patented "announcing something on the internet"

coopdog• 14 years ago

on the internet.. using a mobile device!

ps2000• 14 years ago

This is genius, announcing registrations on Facebook. I have never seen such a thing.

efsavage• 14 years ago

Patent trolls have had open season on engineers because the lawmakers and moneymen don't listen to us.

Going after marketers, however, will be their undoing.

yenoham• 14 years ago

I have JUST patented announcing the patent of announcing a domain name registration on a social website...

You all owe me £1m each ... (I also patented talking about it).

IanDrake2• 14 years ago

Genius, however, I had already patented getting a patent on patenting the announcing of a domain name registration on a social website.

times infinity...

debacle• 14 years ago

Guys, this isn't reddit.

Edit: Or Slashdot.

bwb• 14 years ago

RIP Patent System...

bajsejohannes• 14 years ago

In gmail, I filter every email from GoDaddy and apply label "change registrar", just so I'll remember when my domains expire. I'm not really liking most things I see from GoDaddy; perhaps with the exception of pricing.

AhtiK• 14 years ago

Most of the registrars top up the time your domain has with the current registrar at the point of transfer. At least Namcheap does.

Be aware of the following 60-day restriction when planning the transfer from GoDaddy: http://support.godaddy.com/help/article/3560/transferring-do...

duskwuff• 14 years ago

All com/net/org/info registrars do that -- it's an inherent feature of the registry.

Paul_S• 14 years ago

The patent system is like a bug in a software that all your clients rely upon and will never let you fix. I expect peace in the middle east to happen before the patent system gets scrapped.

bostonpete• 14 years ago

I wouldn't be so pessimistic. I've seen more and more attention to this in mainstream discussions. Some things just take a little longer to build momentum...

jeremyarussell2• 14 years ago

There's still a huge valid question about reform as opposed to scrap. The system would work if it was actually applied correctly. (I understand application is part of said system, but I'm referring to the overall human aspect, ie, the reason AskPatents.com was made.)

tesseractive• 14 years ago

I understand why this is downmodded -- software patents as a whole are pretty awful. And I think we can just about all agree that the patent office is incapable of sifting through requests on its own.

But askpatents.com looks to me like it has some potential to work, and if it did, it might solve at least most of the really heinous examples. I'd say that at least merits making the possibility of reform an open question.

Forcing a massive shift in IP rights (that may not benefit large, entrenched interest) through Congress is an enormous undertaking that may not succeed. Reform may be a more practical option.

Lasher• 14 years ago

Even scarier is their definition of social network. From the patent document:

"Social networking websites may comprise internet-based social networking services that focus on building and verifying online social networks for communities of people who may share interests and activities, wish to communicate with each other efficiently, and may be interested in exploring the interests and activities of others, and which necessitates the use of software applications".

In addition to Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn and Facebook they also list YouTube and Flickr as specific examples. This thing is pretty far reaching.

derrida• 14 years ago

IRC, Email?

roothacker• 14 years ago

But that's just a small part of what the sites are doing these days, such as providing free renewal for the second year in case a user allows connecting its Facebook Account, and granting permission to the site to publish any promotion post on the wall of the user(which can be anything more than saying that user has registered an 'example.com' domain name on register.com).

They should have gone for a wider range of things.

bobsy• 14 years ago

Wow! What an innovation. I would never have thought of doing this. Its a shame I won't be able to do this myself now.

Hang on? Isn't everyone already doing this for just about every other online venture? Someone registered via Facebook -> Post to wall. Hmmm. Maybe I should copy and paste their patent application and switch out "domain name registration" for any other service name.

I think it is silly for 2 reason's. Firstly this is not an innovation in any shape or form. People have been doing this for years with everything. It shouldn't have been approved. Secondly, GoDaddy have spent time and money gaining a patent which they can't enforce. Seems silly. I feel they just wanted to add "using patented technology" in their advertising.

scott_meade• 14 years ago

You seem certain that "everyone already doing this" is doing it in the way specified in the claims. Are you?

Reebz• 14 years ago

I'm surprised this was not patented already.

mjt0229• 14 years ago

I will patent announcing patents on social websites.

cridal• 14 years ago

You have got to be kidding!

protomyth2• 14 years ago

if some politician would get rid of "business process patents", we would be 90% of the way there.

bratsche• 14 years ago

I was under the impression that those already didn't qualify for patents. At least, this is what my friend told me years ago when he was either in or had recently graduated from law school at UT.

Is that not the case?

protomyth2• 14 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_method_patent

gergles• 14 years ago

Do a patent office search for "system and method" and you will discover that they certainly do qualify. There was a period where they did not, but then some appellate court suddenly decided they do and now you get what we have here.

shimfish• 14 years ago

Maybe someone here can patent the act of making trivial, over-reaching patents and put a stop to all this?

jiggy2011• 14 years ago

Too much prior art.

arieldelafuente• 14 years ago

This is just ridiculous. Where does it stop?

And after reading articles like these - http://www.law.com/corporatecounsel/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202... - makes one feel the legal system is aware how outdated and broken it is.

bugsbunnyak4• 14 years ago

For what it's worth, this doesn't happen in a vacuum. If you want to read the arguments, enter the patent number 8276057 at this website:

http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/pair

Look under the heading "file wrapper" for all the communication. In particular, read:

	 CTNF	Non-Final Rejection
	 REM	Applicant Arguments/Remarks Made in an Amendment
	 NPL	Non Patent Literature
         NOA	Notice of Allowance and Fees Due (PTOL-85)

The initial rejection (CTNF) is followed by applicant rebuttal (REM), several prior-art searchs (NPL) and then the acceptance (NOA, first document with 6 pages).

I'm not bored enough to read the whole thing, but the claims seem to have been some constrained on very technical points.

Please note: this patent is completely bogus, and I am not defending it. I am pointing this out because I think it is critically important for people to understand how the process works. Otherwise all this hand-wringing is for naught (and those who don't learn from history, etc...)

A suggestion for an enterprising web designer who happens to also be a bored 2L: make a website to semi-automate collation of prior art challenges. Court is not the only way to challege a patent. Patents can be challenged by 3rd parties through an "ex-parte re-examination request". One of the big limitations to this is the cost of the legal process and prior-art search/summation. I'm dreaming of a website that would allow crowd-sourcing to get 95% of the way to a ready-to-file submission, which could then be vetted and finalized by pro-bono lawyers, students in legal clinic, etc.

bo1024• 14 years ago

For those who haven't seen it:

http://patents.stackexchange.com/

(This is the same as askpatents.com)

matthuggins• 14 years ago

And a link to a question specifically pertaining to this patent:

http://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/535/prior-art-for...

mtgx• 14 years ago

Someone should post this on AskPatents.com, to make sure the Patent Office sees it, or is it too late for that already?

bugsbunnyak4• 14 years ago

The patent is valid as of the issue date. A re-examination request can be filed at any time during the life of the patent.

I haven't yet heard what, if any, formal relationship AskPatents.com will have to the examination process going forward. However, at least for an already-issued patent a re-exam would be required.

josaka• 14 years ago

The patent's claims are slightly more specific than the title would suggest, but are still absurdly broad. The patent appears to cover announcing, after a delay, a domain name registration on a social website using oauth.

emehrkay• 14 years ago

Damn I need to move that last domain off of Go Daddy. Ill do that today.

drbawb• 14 years ago

Just started my own transfer for one of my domains; I might let the other one lapse.

This was the last kick in the pants I needed to get off of GoDaddy.

mran• 14 years ago

How can it be for real? Not surprising tho since the structure of the legal system and the law as it currently is just cannot keep up with technological progress.

RoryH• 14 years ago

They are going to be patenting sandwiches next!

jmilloy• 14 years ago

No.

GoDaddy titles a patent "Announcing a Domain Name Registration on a Social Website"

Regardless of your position on US copyright law, you simply must understand this important and not-so-subtle distinction before you make arguments about the validity of a patent. There are 18 claims in this patent. Read and complain about specific claims.

To choose a random example, patent US496217 by Stihl (1990) is titled "Handle for a chain saw", yet Stihl did not patent handles on chain saws.

astrodust• 14 years ago

"Handle for a chain saw" patents are usually described with language precise enough they can't do that.

"Method and apparatus for lifting and operating a chain saw" would be more akin to the useless software patents that are out there.

Hawkee• 14 years ago

I don't think this "service" will even be successful. Domainers certainly don't want to share their business matters with their Facebook friends. And business owners may spend several months developing a site before publishing it. No timer can predict when the site is done.

omarchowdhury2• 14 years ago

Yeah, but imagine the lay user buying a domain and letting their friends know about it. Then everyone else is like, "Wow, you got your own dot com!"... "Me three".

And so Godaddy makes money.

tapsboy• 14 years ago

On this basis:

A photo-sharing service can patent "announcing a picture upload on a social website". A location service can patent "announcing a check-in on a social website" A restaurant review service can patent "announcing a restaurant rating on a social website"

It might actually help more such "ridiculous" patents being granted. Eventually, the non-tech crowd will be affected and the whole system will be brought into question.

Bud• 14 years ago

They should patent "Getting Away With Outrageous Misogyny In A Business That Would Seem Inhospitable For It"; that's their true and only talent.

jacalata• 14 years ago

but there is so much prior art for that!

OldSchool• 14 years ago

Software patents with troll owners have long been the Sword of Damocles for the bootstrapped startup. This one is probably of no consequence but overall they represent a barrier to entry that has no basis in natural law. I really doubt we'll ever see meaningful reform because those who could effect a change don't have a clue about the technology their laws affect.

SODaniel• 14 years ago

Good to see Godaddy focusing on their core business and keeping secure, reachable and reliable instead of useless fringe projects.

bicknergseng• 14 years ago

Hm. Another fairly bogus patent, but who exactly is going to use it anyway? Even if you had the site already prepared and developed... CNAME and other DNS jazz takes a day to propagate anyway. You'd end up announcing something that wasn't there.

patentdude• 14 years ago

In addition to requiring a delay, the patent claims as allowed require that you GIVE GODADDY your credentials to the social networking site and that their server will use the credentials to log you in. Contrary to what some of you are saying, this is not oath.

Go Daddy patents “announcing a domain name registration on a social website”

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