OFF BEAT: 'Like' button doesn't make friends in lawsuit
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The ubiquitous Facebook “like” button is now the focus of a lawsuit.
Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook Inc. and another social media company, McLean, Va.-based AddThis Inc., are being sued over Facebook's “like” button and a timeline feature by a company that represents deceased programmer Joannes Jozef Everardus Van Der Meer, who had claimed he invented and patented the concepts first.
The company, Rembrandt Social Media, an affiliate of Bala Cynwyd, Pa.-based Rembrandt IP Management L.L.C., said Mr. Van Der Meer developed his ideas at his Netherlands-based company, which now does business as Aduna.
Rembrandt said after Mr. Van Der Meer died, his family, through Aduna, partnered with it to enforce the patents and will share in the litigation proceeds. The lawsuit was filed in the Norfolk, Va.-based Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
“Rembrandt strives to help inventors and patent owners receive the credit and compensation they deserve,” said Paul Schneck, Rembrandt's chairman, in a statement. “We work to level the playing field for patent owners who do not have the expertise and/or capital to enforce their rights against companies which use their inventions without paying for them.”
“Years before Facebook and AddThis, Jos Van Der Meer conceived of and patented core aspects of social media,” Mr. Schneck continues. “The United States patent system is designed to give inventors an exclusive right to practice their inventions. Facebook and AddThis are using the ideas disclosed in Jos' patents without permission or payment. Through this litigation, Rembrandt Social Media hopes to recover payment for the unauthorized usage of patents by Facebook and AddThis.”
Facebook said it had no comment on the lawsuit, according to a report, but it is probably a safe bet Facebook won't be applying its “like” button to it.
