online voting

BytePhoto.com has been running online contests since 2003, but is now being sued by a company that obtained a patent on this sort of online voting.

Hobbyist Photo-Sharing Site Defends Itself Against Company With A Patent On Online Voting

Patents are intended to protect the developers of specific concepts. That’s why you don’t see a patent for “thing that can treat diseases,” but for individual medicines and devices. Last summer, the Supreme Court confirmed you can’t simply patent a generic idea just because you apply it to a computer. But a small photo-sharing site is being sued for infringing on a patent that arguably covers a vast range of vote-for-your-favorite competitions. [More]