Facebook to Share AOL Patents with Microsoft (MSFT, AOL, YHOO)
April 23, 2012 by Paul AusickFacebook paid $550 million in cash for ownership of about 650 of the patents acquired by Microsoft plus a license to any further AOL patents and patent applications that Microsoft “will purchase and own.” Microsoft will retain ownership of about 275 of the AOL patents and applications, and will get from Facebook a license to the patents that the social media company just acquired.
Facebook has been sued by Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) for infringing certain of Yahoo’s patents, and today’s acquisition of the AOL patents from Microsoft is likely a move by Facebook to get some ammo to use in future negotiations.
For its part, Microsoft claims that it never intended to keep all the AOL patents it bought last week. The sale to Facebook, according to Microsoft’s press release,
enables us to recoup over half of our costs while achieving our goals from the AOL auction. As we said earlier this month, we had submitted the winning AOL bid in order to obtain a durable license to the full AOL portfolio and ownership of certain patents that complement our existing portfolio.
Paul Ausick
Take This Retirement Quiz To Get Matched With A Financial Advisor (Sponsored)
Take the quiz below to get matched with a financial advisor today.
Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests.
Here’s how it works:
1. Answer SmartAsset advisor match quiz
2. Review your pre-screened matches at your leisure. Check out the
advisors’ profiles.
3. Speak with advisors at no cost to you. Have an introductory call on the phone or introduction in person and choose whom to work with in the future
Take the retirement quiz right here.