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We want to add Q&A to our product pages, but don't want to get hit with an infringment. Are their any patents that claim to have invented the electronic Q&A forum for posting questions and answers to a web page?

Craig Costanzo
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    To get a more detailed (and on-topic) picture, try posting a separate thread calling for prior art on one of the patent #s given below. – Ron J. Apr 21 '13 at 14:02

1 Answers1

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Off-topic but hard not to make an exception for this!

A very quick look found this (don't let the titles scare you):

Answer ranking in community question-answering sites
US 8346701
Microsoft, Corp

Providing community for customer questions (only an application)
US 20130013546
IBM

George White
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    To add, experts-exchange.com also had at least one patent on their method of providing a Q&A website: US6064978. This one is much earlier and broader, but note that neither this nor the Microsoft patent is so broad as to cover the general concept of a "Q&A web forum"... The '978 patent relates to "organizing", "regulating" the "number and complexity of questions" and assigning a "quality" to answers, whereas the Microsoft one relates to finding, linking and ranking similar questions and answers. However, note also that these are only two examples of many, many related patents out there. – kinkfisher Mar 22 '13 at 00:36