Yahoo sues Facebook over 10 disputed patents in the US

Yahoo has filed an intellectual property lawsuit against Facebook. Yahoo claims the social network has infringed 10 of its patents including systems and methods for advertising on the web. Facebook denies the allegation. The move comes ahead of Facebook’s planned flotation later this year. Patent litigation has become common between the smartphone makers, but this marks a new front in the battles between the tech giants. A statement from Yahoo suggested the web portal believed it has a strong case. “Yahoo’s patents relate to cutting edge innovations in online products, including in messaging, news feed generation, social commenting, advertising display, preventing click fraud and privacy controls,” its suit said. “Facebook’s entire social network model, which allows users to create profiles and connect with, among other things, persons and businesses, is based on Yahoo’s patented social networking technology. The social network signalled that it believed that Yahoo had not tried hard to settle the matter without involving the courts. A statement by Facebook secured by the All Things D website read: “We’re disappointed that Yahoo’s effort to engage with us was limited to a few short phone calls and that we continue to learn of new developments about a long-time partner through the press. We will defend ourselves vigorously against these puzzling actions.” The case has echoes of Yahoo’s decision to sue Google ahead of its flotation in 2004. That dispute centred over patents that Yahoo had acquired the previous year as part of its takeover of pay-per-position specialist Overture. Google ultimately settled the case by issuing 2.7 million shares to its rival. The latest suit was filed in the US district court for the northern district of California.