[spiralpolitik]

The concepts that MapReduce uses were being discussed at least as early as the 90s. My parallel programming module in 1995 had a section on parallelizing programs using map and reduce functions so there is enough prior art on the concepts to make any patent defense on the general concepts difficult if not impossible.

[spacemanaki]

Also interesting, as I said I don't know much about it or the patents involved. The parent of my comment claimed the iPhone contained something that infringed on MapReduce patents, that was the thing I was questioning.