Here is another patent in my series of API related patents. I’d file this in the category as the other similar one from IBM–Patent US 8954988: Automated Assessment of Terms of Service in an API Marketplace. It is a good idea. I just don’t feel it is a good patent idea.
Title: API matchmaking using feature models Number: 09454409 Owner: International Business Machines Corporation Abstract: Software that uses machine logic based algorithms to help determine and/or prioritize an application programming interface’s (API) desirability to a user based on how closely the API’s terms of service (ToS) meet the users’ ToS preferences. The software performs the following steps: (i) receiving a set of API ToS feature information that includes identifying information for at least one API and respectively associated ToS features for each identified API; (ii) receiving ToS preference information that relates to ToS related preferences for a user; and (iii) evaluating a strength of a match between each respective API identified in the API ToS feature information set and the ToS preference information to yield a match value for each API identified in the API ToS feature information set. The ToS features include at least a first ToS field. At least one API includes multiple, alternative values in its first ToS field.
Honestly, I don’t have a problem with a company turning something like this into a feature, and even charging for it. I just wish IBM would help us solve the problem of making terms of service machine readable, so something like this is even possible. Could you imagine what would be possible if everybody’s terms of service were machine readable, and could be programmatically evaluated? We’d all be better off, and matchmaking services like this would become a viable service.
I just wish more of the energy I see go into these patent would be spent actually doing things in the API space. Providing low cost, innovative API services that businesses can use, instead of locking up ideas, filing them away with the government, so that they can be used at a later date in litigation and backdoor dealings.
