MSN.COM - A Dutch patent-holding company is pursuing Facebook for what is sure to
be a handsome sum, alleging the social networking website ripped off its
'Like' button. Rembrandt Social Media maintains that a now-deceased
programmer by the name of Joannes Jozef Everadus van Der Meer was behind
the idea. They say van Der Meer came up with the device for his
"Surfbook" back in 1998, five years before mindlessly posting pictures
of modern cuisine and average-looking babies was cool. Surfbook has been
described as a social diary that allowed people to share their lives
with friends and family, complete with a button of approval.