Social networking patents

Social networking patents are special legal documents that allow a company to own certain ideas about how to run a social network. For example, a social networking patent might include how a website would look, how people could send messages to each other, or how to create user profiles. Once a company owns a social networking patent, it can stop other companies from using the same ideas. Basically, it's a way to protect a company's ideas and make sure they are the only ones that can use them.