Just like we predicted, the Yahoo vs. Facebook spat just got ugly, with the social media giant bringing its full weight against their once business partner Yahoo in a patent counter-suit. Facebook is saying that Yahoo has allegedly infringed on ten of Facebook’s patents which include its homepage, content optimization, relevance engine, Flickr photo-sharing service and advertising.
Ted Ullyot, general counsel of Facebook has said that they would defend themselves vigorously against Yahoo’s lawsuit, and this is their blunt answer. “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.”
Yahoo spokesman Eric Berman said Facebook’s counterclaim is “nothing more than a cynical attempt to distract from the weakness of its defense.”
While both parties have enormous sums at their disposal, Facebook has the leg up in this particular fight – not only is the social networking company on the way up, but it’s currently heading for a lucrative IPO, which some has speculated that would reach $100 billion. Yahoo on the other hand has been in troubled waters as of late, which frames their puzzling lawsuit firmly in the “hail-mary” playbook.
Source: Reuters