US 10681103

US patent 10681103, titled "Social networking with video annotation," was granted to ART RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY LLC. The patent lists David Hirschfeld, Barry Fernando, Mark C. Phelps, and Theodore V. Haig as the inventors. The application was filed on September 18, 2018, and the patent was issued on June 9, 2020.

The abstract describes a method and system for annotating Playable Media Files within a social network. This method involves receiving a Playable Media File from a first member and an annotation from another member, then saving the annotation in a file separate from the Playable Media File.

Here is a plain-language overview of each independent claim:

• Independent Claim 1: Method to Make a Composite Virtual Clip
  This claim outlines a method for creating a composite virtual clip. It involves selecting a number (N) of saved virtual clips and defining their playback order. The method then iteratively configures and saves pointers (Mth pointers) that indicate the storage location for each of these selected virtual clips. This process repeats until all (N) virtual clips have a corresponding pointer configured and saved.
• Independent Claim 7: Method to Display a Composite Virtual Clip
  This claim describes a method for playing back a previously created composite virtual clip. It involves accessing a composite virtual clip file that contains links to (N) saved virtual clips. The method then activates these links one by one (Pth link) to stream each saved virtual clip to a user's device, proceeding through all (N) clips in the defined order.
• Independent Claim 13: Non-Transitory Computer Usable Medium for Making a Composite Virtual Clip
  This claim covers a non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program product for creating a composite virtual clip. The program code instructs a processor to perform the steps outlined in Claim 1: selecting (N) saved virtual clips and their order, iteratively configuring and saving pointers to these clips, and repeating until all (N) clips are accounted for.
• Independent Claim 19: Non-Transitory Computer Usable Medium for Displaying a Composite Virtual Clip
  This claim describes a non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program product for displaying a composite virtual clip. The program code directs a processor to provide access to a composite virtual clip file, then iteratively activate links within that file to stream (P)th saved virtual clips to a user's device until all (N) clips in the composite virtual clip have been displayed.

Regarding the legal status, the patent is currently active. The patent family is involved in litigation, including a PTAB case IPR2025-01405 (which has a procedural termination) and two US cases filed in the California Northern District Court (case 5:24-cv-04898 and 3:24-cv-04898). [cite: US10681103B2 - Social networking with video annotation - Google Patents] A search of CAFC 2026 dockets specifically for patent number 10681103 did not yield direct results at this time.