Yahoo has filed a massive patent infringement lawsuit against its business partner, Facebook, AllThingsD reported on Monday. The search company claims that Facebook’s News Feed, advertising methods, privacy settings and more infringe its patents. “Facebook’s entire social network model, which allows users to create profiles for and connect with, among other things, persons and businesses, is based on Yahoo’s patented social networking technology,” Yahoo’s lawsuit said. The company claims that Facebook has been “free riding” on Yahoo’s intellectual property and royalty payments alone will not be enough. Read on for more.
Yahoo’s 19-page lawsuit covering 10 patents could not come at a worse time for Facebook, as the company moves closer to its IPO, which is expected to reach close to $100 billion. Interestingly enough, Yahoo pulled a similar stunt with Google before the search giants IPO in 2004.
The social networking giant released a statement disagreeing with the Yahoo lawsuit and called it puzzling. “We’re disappointed that Yahoo, a longtime business partner of Facebook and a company that has substantially benefited from its association with Facebook, has decided to resort to litigation,” the statement read. “Once again, we learned of Yahoo’s decision simultaneously with the media. We will defend ourselves vigorously against these puzzling actions.”
