Twitter Receives Patent On Itself After Years Of Waiting

This is a good day for Twitter, which just received a patent on itself from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The patent describes the Twitter service, covering such things as sent messages that aren't destined to a recipient. The patent request was filed back in 2007, and lists Biz Stone and Jack Dorsey as its inventors.

You can check out the patent for yourself over at the USPTO website. The abstract details both a method and a system that provides "device-independent point to multipoint communication" able to receive messages from email, web, texting, and more. It then goes on to detail at length the various functions and features of Twitter that make it the update broadcasting service that it is.

Back in April last year, Twitter unveiled the Innovator's Patent Agreement via its blog, where it details how the company feels on the use of patents and their potential to impact innovation. In the Agreement, which Twitter refers to as the IPA, the company states that it will only use patents in a defensive manner, seeking employee permission for offensive use. The IPA went into effect late last year.

In other Twitter news, we reported yesterday that Twitter's Jack Dorsey wishes to become mayor of New York City. That will be quite the career change for Dorsey, who currently serves as CEO of Square and Executive Chairman of Twitter. This news came to light during a 60 Minutes interview, where Dorsey said that he is serious but little else about the ambition.

[via The Verge]