An Interest In:
Web News this Week
- March 28, 2024
- March 27, 2024
- March 26, 2024
- March 25, 2024
- March 24, 2024
- March 23, 2024
- March 22, 2024
April 23, 2012 10:04 pm GMT
Original Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Te3-QIo_-Do/
Rather Than Pay Off Yahoo, Facebook Built A Fortress 1400 Patents Strong
Facebook had a choice to make: With just 56 patents to its name at the start of 2012 it could pay its way out of Yahoo's infringement lawsuit with gobs of money and remain vulnerable to other patent attacks, or make a long-term investment into an intellectual property portfolio it could protect itself with for years to come. Facebook haswisely taken the second path, upping its patent stockpile to over 1400 with today's $550 million cash purchase and licensing of 650 AOL patents from Microsoft today. These new patents cover email, instant messaging , web browsing, search, ads, mobile, and ecommerce according to asource with direct knowledge of the purchase.Surely, Facebook might have gotten better deals on this cache from Microsoft and the package of 75o patents it bought from IBM had it not been so desperate, but better late than never.Now with a healthy patent portfolio that I breakdown below, Facebook may be able to stop scrambling to buy IP, and can fend off the attack of any who would spoil and suck money from its IPO.Original Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Te3-QIo_-Do/
Share this article:
Tweet
View Full Article
Techcrunch
TechCrunch is a leading technology blog, dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news.More About this Source Visit Techcrunch