{"id":7694,"date":"2012-03-13T12:30:21","date_gmt":"2012-03-13T12:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=7694"},"modified":"2012-03-13T12:56:05","modified_gmt":"2012-03-13T12:56:05","slug":"patent-litigation-a-profitable-business-for-ict-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/internet\/7694\/patent-litigation-a-profitable-business-for-ict-giants\/","title":{"rendered":"Patent litigation a profitable business for ICT giants"},"content":{"rendered":"

As internet giant, Yahoo<\/a>, squares up against social media group, Facebook<\/a>, over 10 patents – SA law firm, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, says patent litigation has become rather profitable – and an effective means of trying to squeeze competitors.<\/p>\n

Clem Daniel, director of technology, media and telecommunications practice at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr said: \u00a0\u201cIt seems that there is just no end to the patent litigation between ICT industry giants \u2013 and for good reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only has patent litigation become an effective means of raising revenue for both patent trolls and legitimate businesses, but it has also become an effective means of trying to squeeze competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, Yahoo filed a patent infringement claim against Facebook, in respect of 10 patents. The patents are said to cover social networking, customisation, privacy, advertising and messaging.<\/p>\n

Yahoo’s 2004 claim against Google<\/a> netted the group $230 million-worth of Google shares in the run-up to the Google IPO.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne might be forgiven for doubting that the timing of Yahoo’s claim against Facebook is simply coincidental, in light of Facebook’s impending IPO,” opined Daniel, “One might also be forgiven for taking bets that Yahoo is going to receive substantial license fees in some form or another.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the legal expert, Facebook is apparently somewhat thin on patents, holding only some 56 patents and having some 410 patents pending.<\/p>\n

By comparison, in the smart phone context, the telephony component alone is estimated to be covered by in excess of 7,000 patents. The probabilities suggest a multiple of that number, by way of cross-licenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cInterestingly, Yahoo alleges that Facebook has deliberately, and knowingly, infringed the Yahoo patents – and as a result, Yahoo is seeking triple damages; although the amount is not yet specified.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe major friction point in social networking is going to be between Google and Facebook, as the former leverages its not inconsiderable muscle to enter the field currently dominated by Facebook. It requires no soothsayer to predict future patent litigation between the two social networking giants,\u201d Daniel said.<\/p>\n

Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr said that, while clashes of the titans are likely to remain what they are, patent infringement claims will also inevitably move down the value chain, and across jurisdictions in an increasingly connected world.<\/p>\n

\u201cA colleague in the United States recently pointed out that legal costs, in respect of bringing or defending a patent infringement claim, start at around $10 million – and escalate from there. Not an attractive situation for a prospective defendant. IP rights management is almost certainly going to become an increasingly heavy burden on businesses,\u201d Daniel says.<\/p>\n

Related article<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yahoo files patent lawsuit against Facebook<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Yahoo squares up Facebook over 10 patents, SA law firm, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, says patent litigation has become rather profitable – and an effective means of trying to squeeze competitors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9882],"tags":[1523,45,53,26,1943,147],"class_list":["post-7694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet","tag-cliffe-dekker-hofmeyr","tag-facebook","tag-google","tag-headline","tag-patent-litigation","tag-yahoo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7694"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7712,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7694\/revisions\/7712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}