Facebook acquires 750 patents from IBM to bolster defence against lawsuits
24 Mar 2012
Facebook, the world's biggest social-networking service, has acquired 750 patents from IBM as the eight year-old company beefs up its intellectual property portfolio to bolster its defences against rivals from patent infringement lawsuits.
Citing a person with knowledge of the transaction, Bloomberg yesterday reported that Facebook acquired 750 patents from IBM covering various technologies such as software and networking.
A Facebook spokesperson has reportedly confirmed the purchase, but did not disclose how much it paid for the patents.
The purchase comes after Yahoo last week sued Facebook for infringing on 10 of its patents covering advertising, privacy controls and social networking.
The acquisition would boost Facebook's patent portfolio, which includes at least 56 issued patents and 503 filed US patent applications. The Menlo Park, California-based company has also at least 33 corresponding patents and 149 filed applications in foreign countries.
Facebook had earlier purchased patents from social-networking site Friendster and personal computer giant Hewlett-Packard, according to the US Patent & Trademark Office.