Sergey Khrykin: "The social connection mechanism we protect is a way to create a database."

In late 2009, a patent was filed in Ukraine for the "Svyazi" service—a service that utilizes a principle of interaction and "friending" similar to that of users on social networks. The patent was awarded to Est!. What is the essence of the patent, and does it pose a threat to services using a similar principle? The Est! project manager agreed to answer these and other questions.Sergey Khrykin.

-The press release refers to your patent as a social network patent. In fact, the patent describes a somewhat different technology. Could you explain the essence of the patented technology and how similar its general principles are to those of social networks, and what are the main differences?

The patent literally states the following wording: "A method for creating a multi-level hierarchy of user profiles (personal pages) on an Internet site."

The essence of the patented technology is that we do not simply establish connections by clicking the "Join" button.

We:

a) We emphasize the hierarchical nature of relationships, i.e., the established relationships are not equivalent and do not lie "on the same plane." A simple analogy: company employees - company branches - company head office. The participants in the relationships in this example are not equivalent.

b) When establishing connections, information accumulated at lower levels of the hierarchy is aggregated (summed up). A simple example: an employee has their own list of real estate listings. At the company branch level (real estate agency), individual employee listings are combined into a common stream. Similarly, listings from individual branches are combined into a common stream at the company level.

Essentially, our secure social connection mechanism is a way to create a database. Instead of traditional information export and import mechanisms, our mechanism only requires establishing connections to create a shared database.

- In what areas can your technology be used? Is it universal or is it intended for a specific industry?

Despite the versatility of our mechanism, we see its primary application in the real estate sector. A real estate database is "built" by establishing connections between individuals, realtors, agencies, websites, and real estate portals. It's as simple as it is effective, requiring no additional investment of time or money. Changes to the overall database occur in real time (no need to waste time on traditional information exchange).

What are your next steps regarding this patented technology? Do you plan to develop a software implementation as an online service or software? Are there already existing developments based on this technology?

The patent was received by the Est! project at the end of September 2009. Since May 2010, the portalwww.est.uaThe described connection mechanism is implemented in the first version programmatically! Where can you see it? If you're registered on the site, you'll see a red-orange "Join" button in the "Community" and "Professionals" sections for company users. And in the business cards (profiles, minisites) of companies that are already using this mechanism, you'll see a "Connections" tab, which shows the list of connected users. In the "Ads" section of such a company, you'll see a consolidated list of offers from all connected users. Most often, this is a real estate agency's business card with its employees connected. This mechanism is already being used by public organizations in the real estate sector, connecting their members. In the latter case, we receive a unified database (UDB) within a single public organization, compiled from the offers of its members. Such organizations include regional branches of the ASNU (Association of Real Estate Specialists of Ukraine), the SSNU (Union of Real Estate Specialists of Ukraine), and others.

What steps will startups building their services based on your technology now have to take? Are there already services in Ukraine operating based on your patent? Will you patent the technology outside of Ukraine?

Startups building their services based on our technology will be required to operate in accordance with Ukrainian patent law, specifically, they will need to obtain our permission to use this technology. There are currently no services operating based on our patent in Ukraine. It's entirely possible that we will patent the technology outside of Ukraine.