According to the news reports, the social media giant Facebook has copied one of the features from an Italian developer known as “Nearby”. The feature allows the users to find their Facebook friends nearby. The feature was first rolled out by the Faround app by Business Competence in 2012, which helped the users to track their Facebook friends.
After a few months of the release of this feature by Faround, Facebook introduced its very own “Nearby” feature. The Italian software developer took action against the copying of its feature in 2013 by filing a lawsuit. However, the preliminary ruling was issued by the court three years later in 2016 and was made public in 2017. Facebook agreed upon discontinuing the feature from its service in Italy.
One of Facebook’s spokesperson informed that the company had received the court’s order for paying $4.72 to the Italian developer, and they are examining it pretty carefully.
