Facebook announced Monday that it will pay Microsoft $550 million for the majority of patents Microsoft acquired from AOL earlier this month.
From Facebook:
In the initial AOL auction, Microsoft secured the ability to own or assign approximately 925 U.S. patents and patent applications plus a license to AOL’s remaining patent portfolio, which contains approximately 300 additional patents that were not for sale. . . . As a result of today’s agreement, Facebook will obtain ownership of approximately 650 AOL patents and patent applications, plus a license to the AOL patents and applications that Microsoft will purchase and own.
Microsoft will keep 275 of the patents outright and also have a license to the 650 now owned by Facebook. All in all, a pretty sweet deal for Microsoft -- which has made more than half of the $1 billion it paid AOL for the patents.
“Today’s agreement with Microsoft represents an important acquisition for Facebook,” Ted Ullyot, general counsel for Facebook said in a statement. “This is another significant step in our ongoing process of building an intellectual property portfolio to protect Facebook’s interests over the long term.”
U.S. & World
With the purchase, Facebook now has security against lawsuits from tech companies (such as Yahoo) and that's likely worth the $550 million.
