Yahoo Sues Facebook Over Patent Infringement
With Yahoo’s future fading as time moves on, the once great internet behemoth has sued Facebook on 10 counts of patent infringement. The lawsuit itself apparently covers everything from messaging, privacy options, advertising, social networking and more. Yahoo even uses the words of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, in their court filing, quoting his remark “Getting there first is not what it’s all about.” However for Yahoo, it is indeed all about getting there first with patents granted by the United States Patent Office backing their claim. Yahoo will be seeking triple damages, and furthermore wants the right to prevent Facebook from operating while using Yahoo patents. There are a few reasons for Yahoo to sue Facebook, although none of them have inspired confidence in the company. The first reason being Yahoo has a new CEO, Scott Thompson, who only recently took over in January; second, Facebook is still waiting out its SEC-mandated quiet period before its initial public offering, of which a lawsuit could impact the opening stock price. Could this be the start of Yahoo’s decent from internet search giant to patent troll? Only time will tell.
Why sue now? Two reasons are most likely: First, Yahoo has a new CEO, Scott Thompson, who took over in January. As Kara Swisher of All Things Digital reported, the lawsuit is largely Thompsons initiative, and could be a way to show Wall Street that the company is serious about finding new revenue. Second, Facebook is in its quiet period before an initial public offering, so a patent lawsuit could hurt Facebooks opening stock price, thereby giving Yahoo more bargaining power. (In 2004, Yahoo sued Google before the search company went public, and they settled 10 days before Googles IPO.)
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