Reuters: Technology News: Facebook buys 750 patents from IBM: source

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Facebook buys 750 patents from IBM: source Mar 22nd 2012, 20:18 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Proxy battle pits new Yahoo CEO against hedge fund Wed, Mar 21 2012 Apple vs. Android: A courtroom war of attrition Tue, Mar 20 2012 Facebook underwriters to get 1.1 percent fee: source Tue, Mar 20 2012 SEC charges SharesPost, Felix over pre-IPO trading Wed, Mar 14 2012 Facebook touts success in revamped pages for brands Tue, Mar 13 2012 Analysis & Opinion What’s Facebook really worth? SecondMarket's unnecessary Facebook Fund Related Topics Tech » Media » Facebook » An illustration picture shows the log-on screen for the website Facebook, in Munich February 2, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Michael Dalder By Dan Levine and Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO | Thu Mar 22, 2012 4:18pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook has acquired hundreds of patents from International Business Machines Corp as the social networking company attempts to bolster its intellectual property portfolio in the wake of a lawsuit filed by Yahoo. The 750 patents from IBM cover a broad range of technology, ranging from search to semiconductors, according to a person familiar with the matter. A Facebook spokeswoman said the company had no comment, and an IBM representative could not immediately be reached. Yahoo sued Facebook earlier this month, claiming that Facebook infringed 10 patents, including several that cover online advertising technology. A classic defense for companies targeted with patent claims is to threaten a countersuit using its own patents. But Yahoo possesses far more patents than Facebook. Before the IBM transaction, Yahoo had over 3,300 patents and published patent applications, according to a U.S. government database. Facebook had 56 issued patents and 503 applications as of December 31, the company said in a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Facebook, the world's largest Internet social networking service, is preparing for an initial public offering that could value the company at up to $100 billion. It is unclear how much Facebook paid for the IBM patents, but tech companies seeking to build their portfolios have pushed intellectual property prices higher. Google agreed to buy Motorola Mobility last summer for $12.5 billion, and said Motorola's patents were a prime attraction. That deal came after Nortel Networks Corp sold about 6,000 patents to an Apple Inc-led consortium for $4.5 billion, after Google bowed out of the bidding. IBM's transaction with Facebook was first reported by Bloomberg. (Reporting by Dan Levine and Alexei Oreskovic; editing by Carol Bishopric) Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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