Facebook will have to be considering the long sought after 'Dislike' button after this.
The social network that we all use and are borderline addicted to is being sued for its 'Like' button by Dutch programmer Joannes Jozef Everardus van Der Meer, who claims he patented the idea five years before Facebook ever appeared in the world. Van Der Meer set up and patented a similar sounding site called Surfbook back in 1998, and his 'social diary' site let people 'like' each other's comments and photos before Facebook was even a gleam in the eye of young Mark Zuckerberg.
Well it's not actually Van Der Meer doing the suing, as he died in 2004, but the patent holder Rembrandt Social Media is seeking legal action for using patents without permission. Now we're probably not going to have to say goodbye to the 'like' button just yet, but if there's any truth in the claims, then the Dutch are about to get one nice big payout.