Facebook buys AOL patents from Microsoft
April 24th, 2012 - 5:37 am ICT by IANS
San Francisco, April 24 (IANS) Facebook will buy a portion of AOL patents from Microsoft for $550 million, it was announced Monday. The software giant had bought the patents from AOL recently.
“Today’s agreement with Microsoft represents an important acquisition for Facebook,” Ted Ullyot, Facebook’s general counsel, said in a joint statement of the two companies.
“This is another significant step in our ongoing process of building an intellectual property portfolio to protect Facebook ’s interests over the long term,” Xinhua quoted Ullyot as saying.
The agreement with Facebook “enables us to recoup over half our costs while achieving our goals from the AOL auction”, said Brad Smith, executive vice president at Microsoft.
The deal is expected to give Facebook a stronger position in the technology patent battlefield, where the company had been weak and facing lawsuits, most notably from Yahoo.
Late last month, Facebook was said to purchase 750 patents covering software and networking from IBM, according to a Bloomberg report.
Yahoo sued Facebook over 10 patent infringements in March, covering internet privacy, advertising and information sharing. Facebook filed a countersuit against Yahoo April 3.
Microsoft got the AOL patents in “a competitive auction” April 9 for $1.056 billion in cash. The patent portfolio spans technologies like advertising, search and social networking.
- Yahoo, Facebook reach patent deal - Jul 07, 2012
- Yahoo, Facebook form advertising alliance - Jul 10, 2012
- Yahoo!, Microsoft and AOL create ad partnership - Nov 10, 2011
- Yahoo to acquire Interclick for $270 mn - Nov 02, 2011
- Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sues Google, Apple, nine others for web patent breach - Aug 28, 2010
- Microsoft co-founder sues 11 companies - Aug 28, 2010
- Google offers to buy Nortel patents for $900 million - Apr 05, 2011
- Apple-led group buys Nortel patents for $4.5 bn - Jul 02, 2011
- Yahoo-AOL Buyout Rumor Surfaces - Nov 10, 2010
- Google buys more than 1,000 IBM patents - Jul 30, 2011
- US Supreme Court hears Microsoft appeal on Word patent - Apr 18, 2011
- Microsoft allowed to buy Yahoo!'s internet search business - Feb 19, 2010
- Apple, Intel join Google in bidding for Nortel patents - Jun 28, 2011
- Yahoo Inc Lays Off 600 Employees - Dec 15, 2010
- Microsoft, Yahoo! Change Search Landscape - Jul 29, 2009
Tags: aol, april 24, bloomberg report, brad smith, countersuit, executive vice, facebook, general counsel, information sharing, intellectual property portfolio, internet privacy, patent infringements, patent portfolio, patents, privacy advertising, social networking, software giant, technology patent, ted ullyot, xinhua