The Company That Sued Facebook – And Won

Pay attention Yahoo!

Lots of news and comments are flying around the web (and local law firms) about the patent infringement suit filed by Yahoo against Facebook. 

Many of the comments chide Yahoo, calling them “patent trolls,” and describing the suit at Yahoo’s best (and last) chance to make some real money.

But, if I can drop a legal term here, the suit is not without precedent. A company called Leader sued Facebook a couple of years ago over patent issues – and Leader won the case. 

Eleven patents were allegedly infringed upon, and Facebook was found guilty of violating all 11 of them.

So, is Leader counting its billions? 

No. At least, not yet. 

Facebook was able to invalidate the decision, and Leader says that it’s still fighting, and hopes to win. The company is somewhat coy about what kind of damages it might get from a (possible) victory, but admits it has high hopes. 

Some lawyers (on PRWeb) have gone on record as saying that a Leader win over Facebook could bring  Leader “hundreds of millions of dollars” in damages. 

So, where do we go from here? 

We’ll talk to the CEO of Leader, who filed the lawsuit, and is still hopeful for a win. 

You can bet Yahoo! Will be watching this one closely.

Scott will be watching, and tweeting.  He’s on Twitter:  @scottbudman

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