Yahoo! accuses Facebook of patent infringement
SAN FRANCISCO—Yahoo! filed a lawsuit against Facebook on Monday accusing the social networking giant of patent infringement.
Yahoo!, in the suit filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California, accused Facebook of infringing on 10 of its patents.
“For much of the technology upon which Facebook is based Yahoo! got there first and was therefore granted patents by the United States Patent Office to protect those innovations,” Yahoo! said in the suit, a copy of which was posted online by the website All Things Digital.
“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,” the 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,” it said.
