RSS Feed
February 28th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Yahoo wants Facebook to start paying for its right to use various Internet technologies that Yahoo says it holds patents for.
If Yahoo aggressively pursues a strategy of asserting its intellectual-property rights, it could lead to a new phase of patent wars, this one involving some of the biggest names in social networking.
[More from Mashable: Facebook Teams Up With Mobile Carriers for Payments]
In a statement first reported by The New York Times, Yahoo told Mashable it “has a responsibility to its shareholders, employees and other stakeholders to protect its intellectual property.”
“We have invested substantial resources into these innovations,” the statement continued. “We must insist that Facebook either enter into a licensing agreement or we will be compelled to move forward unilaterally to protect our rights.”
[More from Mashable: Facebook Denies Looking At Your Text Messages [VIDEO]]
Yahoo also said other “web and technology companies” had licensed its technology, but it refused to name any of them when asked.
The patents Yahoo holds involve many different technologies for helping websites deal with data and multiple users. One such patent even has to do with “Centralized registration for distributed social content services.”
That patent appears to apply to basic functionality to any social network, including entering personal information and selecting which parts of it are visible to others.
A spokesperson for Facebook told the Times, “Yahoo contacted us the same time they called The New York Times and so we haven’t had the opportunity to fully evaluate their claims.”
SEE ALSO: Yahoo’s New Visualization Beautifully Shows What’s Happening on the WebYahoo’s IP threat is an ominous sign that the world of web platforms could be in for an era of legal infighting similar to what has happened around phones and mobile technology in recent years. In addition to Yahoo, Amazon and Microsoft hold many patents that deal with the modern web.
Amazon, for example, holds a patent on a “social networking system capable of notifying users of profile updates made by their contacts,” which also sounds like basic Facebook functionality.
The move also helps define the new Yahoo. Over the past several months, Yahoo fired its CEO, hired a new one, and saw one of its co-founders and its chairman leave for good.
From the appointment of current CEO and former PayPal guru Scottt Thompson, Yahoo appears to want to make a name for itself as a tech company again.
Does starting a patent war with Facebook serve that strategy? It’s hard to say, though it’s a bold if odd choice as the first order of business for the “new Yahoo.”
Is Yahoo right that Facebook is infringing on its IP and should pay up? Or is this just a dinosaur Internet company’s last roar? Sound off in the comments.
BONUS: How Yahoo’s New CEO Can Make the Company Relevant Again
1. Get Back Into Search
Yahoo partnered with Microsoft to have Bing power its search engine a couple of years ago, part of a deal that let Yahoo run advertising for both. While the arrangement may make sense from a financial standpoint, it robs Yahoo of direct control over one of its primary products, and strengthen’s Bing’s brand more than Yahoo’s. Sure, most people familiar with tech were using Google or Bing anyway, but the move basically told them to never come back.
Those tech-savvy people are influencers, and Yahoo needs to win them back if it’s ever going to grow again. Ending its soul-leasing deal with Microsoft would free Yahoo up to innovate in one area most associated with the brand. Yes, Google is the 400-megaton gorilla in the room, but ceding the search-engine war when you’re primary business is advertising is like saying you’ll fight, but you’re leaving the heavy weapons at home.
Click here to view this gallery.
This story originally published on Mashable here.
Related posts:
Views: 0
Posted in 
Tags: 
