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This is why I hate Software patents.

The whole patent system in general is screwed up, but its stuff like this that drives me crazy. Software patents as broad as this can basically kill innovation(which is contradictory to the actual purpose of patents). IANAL, but we can speculate with a patent like this, Facebook could essentially kill foursquare and gowalla with Litigation.

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And even if Facebook never litigates, this still distracts entrepreneurs from solving useful problems. Every meeting or hour of research that foursquare or gowalla or some new startup has to give to this is time wasted.

I remember reading a while back about Twitter raising some money early in the company for a number of reasons: growth, hiring, finding revenue streams and "because we're going to get sued a lot." Looking for a citation...

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