SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook Inc. acquired 750 patents from International Business Machines Corp., adding intellectual property that may help it counter allegations of patent infringement, a person with knowledge of the transaction said.
The patents cover various technologies such as software and networking, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the deal has not been made public. The acquisition would swell the size of Facebook’s portfolio.
Facebook, the world’s biggest social networking service, is bolstering its legal defenses amid a standoff with rivals that have more intellectual property. Yahoo Inc. sued Facebook earlier this month, accusing it of infringing patents covering functions critical to websites. Facebook had 22 patent suits against it last year, according to LegalMetric.com.
Advertisement