Dive summary:
- Twitter has issued a new patent that broadly describing a messaging service in which users follow each other and messages do not have specific intended recipients.
- The social network plans to only use patents defensively and has developed a formal written policy entitled the Innovator's Patent Agreement, which requires permission from employees before pursuing any legal action on a patent.
- Even with the Innovator's Patent Agreement, competitors, like Facebook, will have to evaluate their offerings carefully against Twitter's broad patent.
From the article:
"Twitter confirmed that the patent was issued earlier today, and provided the following statement: 'Like many companies, we apply for patents on a bunch of our inventions. We also think a lot about how those patents may be used in the future, which is why we introduced the Innovator's Patent Agreement to keep control of those patents in the hands of engineers and designers.' We'll see how the industry reacts to such a broad patent combined with such a unique and equally broad promise to avoid litigation."
