The Patent

Device independent message distribution platform

Also, you can navigate to the patent's web page via the "special shortened URL" (which redirects to the not-so-specially-shortened first link).

The Prior Art

Miski: A White Paper

This web page on WayBack is taken from a snapshot in February 2001.

Note that not only is February 2001 before the filing date of the patent 8401009, but also that only two of the "Referenced" patents are dated earlier than this date.

Translation of Concepts between Miski and Twitter

To fully match the design of Miski with that of Twitter, translations are as follows:

• Miski is a multi-server system, and user ID's consist of user name and domain. Twitter is (notionally) a single server system (i.e. a multi-server system, but there's only one server), and user names all exist on that one server.
• Miski has "subjects", which are like "channels". Twitter doesn't not have any channels as such – in effect there is one default channel per user.
• Miski propagates messages as URLs which point to the actual content. Twitter propagates the content directly within the messages, although Twitter messages can contain URLs which point to other content.
• "Reposting" on Miski is like "retweeting" in Twitter.

Submission History

US Patent Office

Unfortunately I was not aware of this patent until it was granted. Also I was not aware that you can submit prior art to the USPTO if a patent has not yet been granted.

So when I attempted to submit prior art, I received a Notice of Non-Compliant Third-Party Submission under 37 CFR 1.290: The submission is not timely because it has been filed after the instant application has been issued. Being that submissions under 37 C.F.R. 1.290 are for preissuance submissions, this is not proper.

Submitting prior art after granting apparently costs more, as per this fee schedule. I'm not too sure exactly what the minimum is, but if the submitter is a "third party", then it appears to be US$6000.

Update: Was the application ever published?

It's possible that the Twitter patent application was never made public prior to being granted. In which case there never was a chance for the public to submit prior art.

References:

• Twitter and Facebook - Current Patent Portfolio (6 July 2011)
• Twitter patent surfaces off the starboard bow (21 March 2013)

Ask Patents

I have also "submitted" my prior art to Ask Patents, in the sense that I asked a question calling for prior art on US patent 8401009, and then answered my own question.

Legal Warning

It follows, since this prior art has not been formally submitted to the USPTO, and not formally referenced by the patent applicant in the original patent application, that any implementation of my publicly disclosed invention will infringe on the patent for which it is prior art, until such time as a patent re-examination may or may not occur.