This Monday Yahoo followed up on its call to sue social media giant Facebook, alleging that FB has violated 10 patents. The complaint filed in San Jose, California makes the case that Yahoo initially came up with services such as messaging, news feeds, privacy controls, and social commenting advert displays.
Facebook was launched in 2004, some ten years post-Yahoo. The complaint states that the tremendous surge in FB’s popularity has been centered around the use of Yahoo’s patented technologies.
Yahoo’s suit seeks an unspecified amount in damages, coming at a crucial time for the ‘Zuck’ whose website has launched a $5 billion IPO. Yahoo’s move in the meantime could be seen as a desperate last-ditch at regaining some relevance and engaging in this patent-trolling game at a time when its market share continues to slip.
This is not to say however that Yahoo decided on this move overnight. It had been in talks with a team from Facebook over the same issue about a month back. At the time Yahoo was threatening legal action if Facebook didn’t remunerate the company in licensing fees. Consequent to the failure of these talks Yahoo followed up on this threat.
About Rudra Sen
An alumnus of the University of Sussex, Rudra is fascinated by history, culture and technology. He’s known to abruptly act like a hipster in the most unlikely of situations. On wwwireframe, he writes about how technology has and is impacting our lives. In his words, “Good stuff.”
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