Facebook Facing Legal Action Over 'Like' button

flickr.com | by owenwbrown |

Facebook, one of popular social networking sites, is facing legal action over its ‘Like' button. Dutch patent-holding company claims that Facebook uses the button without permission which they already used on Surfbook website, UPI reported.

The widow of a Dutch programmer Joannes Jozef Everardus van Der Meer sues Facebook for using like button and other patented technology that her husband developed. Rembrandt, a patent holding company, said that Van Der Meer granted the patents in 1998 befor Facebook was created and Facebook had no comment about this legal action, UPI wrote.

Surfbook was an early social networking service created by Dutch programmer Joannes Jozef Everardus van der Meer in the years prior to his death in June 2004. Surfbook was based on technologies whose patents were filed by Van der Meer in 1998[2] and granted in 2001 and 2002.[3] It allowed users share their information with selected people and approve posts using a "Like" button, and to link to external information. (information source on Wikipedia) 

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