Facebook faces patent infringement claims over 'timeline'
A Chinese technology company is planning to sue Facebook after claiming it stole the idea for the ‘timeline’, a mandatory feature of all users’ accounts.
Cubic Network, which operates in a similar way to social networking site Pinterest, launched its own timeline in February 2008. In a similar vein to Facebook’s feature, created in 2011, the timeline allows users to display images and videos in chronological order.
According to reports in China, Harvard graduate Xiong Wanli (founder of Cubic) held a talk at Stanford University after launching the timeline, and discussed how it worked. Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg apparently attended the talk.
The reports suggest that Cubic knew about potential patent infringement in 2011, when Facebook revealed its timeline, but has held off suing until now. They suggest that US lawyers were responsible for reminding Cubic that Facebook may be violating its IP.
It is unclear whether Facebook’s initial public offering in May 2012 had a role in prompting the plans to sue the site. This is not the first time Facebook has been subject to a legal dispute: Zuckerberg and brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss fought a long-running battle over who founded the company. In June 2011, the brothers accepted a $65 million settlement from Facebook.
