Facebook files patent lawsuit against Yahoo - USA TODAY

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Facebook files patent lawsuit against Yahoo - USA TODAY Apr 3rd 2012, 19:23 By Barbara Ortutay, Associated Press Updated NEW YORK – Facebook is stepping up its patent dispute with Yahoo by filing its own lawsuit against the struggling Internet icon. Paul Sakuma, AP Yahoo and Facebook are locked in a legal battle over patents. Facebook's lawsuit Tuesday came just weeks after Yahoo claimed that Facebook violated 10 patents covering advertising, privacy controls and social networking. Facebook denied Yahoo's allegation in Tuesday's filing and accused Yahoo of violating 10 of its patents covering photo tagging, advertising, online recommendations and more. Facebook said it has been "irreparably harmed" by Yahoo's infringement. "While we are asserting patent claims of our own, we do so in response to Yahoo's short-sighted decision to attack one of its partners and prioritize litigation over innovation," Ted Ullyot, Facebook's general counsel, said in a statement. Yahoo said it had just received Facebook's lawsuit. The company said the complaint appeared on its face "without merit and nothing more than a cynical attempt to distract from the weakness of its defense." "As we have made clear from the outset, the unauthorized use of our patented technology is unacceptable and must be resolved appropriately," Yahoo said in its statement. "Other leading companies license these technologies, and Facebook must do the same or change the way it operates." Facebook recently acquired 750 patents from IBM that cover technologies that deal with software and networking. At the end of 2011, Facebook had just 56 U.S. patents, a relatively small number compared with other big tech companies. Yahoo owns more than 1,000 patents. Facebook, which is based in Menlo Park, Calif., filed the lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco. It is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages, and for Yahoo's suit to be dismissed. — AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke contributed to this story from San Francisco. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com. USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines.  This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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