Facebook beefs up its IP following Yahoo lawsuit

Facebook (FB) has reportedly acquired a grand total of 750 patents from International Business Corp (IBM). This move comes right in the wake of internet search company Yahoo! filing a patent lawsuit against FB, involving ten patents that deal with advertising, privacy, customisation features, messaging as well as social networking.

According to Reuters, the patents FB bought from IBM cover a wide scope of technology, and ranges from search through to semiconductors. The price that the social networking firm paid for these patents was not disclosed.

A common defence when it comes to patent lawsuits is to file a countersuit, as the Apple vs. Samsung and Apple vs. HTC battles have illustrated. However, Reuters stated that FB only had 56 issued patents as well as 503 patent applications filed since the end of last year. This compares rather unfavourably to Yahoo!’s more than 3300 patents and published patent applications, so the company’s acquisition of the IBM patents will definitely assist in this regard.

In other patent related news, the Apple vs. Motorola Mobility ITC (International Trade Commission) battle seems to have been resolved, as a full panel of judges from the US ITC have upheld a former ruling which found that Motorola did not infringe upon certain Apple patents.