Thanks to Alison Bradley at Trylon MSR for notifying me of this interesting article, following on from the reference in my previous post.

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SECOND PATENT PENDING. Other social-networking Web sites don’t yet appear to be losing much sleep. Reid Hoffman, founder of business social-networking site LinkIn.com, said in an e-mail, “Some of our folks have reviewed the claims, and think that it’s fairly obvious that none of them apply to us…. So, in short, not worried.” A MySpace spokesperson says the company isn’t currently prepared to comment.
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Meanwhile, Friendster filed for a dozen patents in mid-2003 at the urging of major venture capital backer Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. A second patent is expected to be granted soon, says Lindstrom. This one will focus on the technologies involved when a user loads photos onto another user’s page.

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Read more at Business Week Online’s article entitled “Friendster’s Patent Possibilities“.