Facebook Has Been Sued Five Times For Patent Infringement In Two Months Since Filing For Its IPO

from the paddle-paddle dept

Tue, Apr 17th 2012 3:03am — Mike Masnick

We recently wrote about a Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda column for the Washington Post, which suggested that getting sued for patent infringement was like frat hazing for tech companies that file to go public. If that's true, then it appears that Facebook is taking its paddle whacks from quite a few upper classmen. In a larger report about the Facebook/Yahoo patent battle, M-CAM mentions as an aside that Facebook has been sued five times for patent infringement in just the two months since it filed for the IPO:

Patent infringement lawsuits can be problematic during a company's quiet period. In the two months since filing for its IPO in February 2012, Facebook has been the target of five such suits: three from non-operating entities, one from Mitel, and one from Yahoo!.

This isn't a coincidence. This is about companies hoping to cash in by filing questionable patent lawsuits at a very inconvenient time for Facebook. These are companies who know the history of similar lawsuits, where many companies feel compelled to "settle" at almost any cost, due to pressure from Wall Street investors who don't understand patent battles, and fear that any prolonged fight is too costly. So companies are sometimes willing to pay through the nose, not because there's any validity to the lawsuits, but because the massive influx of cash from a successful IPO is worth a lot more than fighting the patent lawsuit. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see a few more trolls try to jump in before the IPO gets off the ground.

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Filed Under: cmdrtaco, hazing, ipo
Companies: facebook, yahoo

20 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 17 Apr 2012 @ 3:37am

Getting caught running a red light is "frat hazing".

Cue freetards censoring this comment, cuz you k'now, differing opinions are cause for "reporting" on this ridiculous blog...
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Apr 2012 @ 3:49am
  
  Re:
  Then why don't you leave instead of hanging around I am sure that there are better jobs out there in the world. I bet your parents would be proud, Hey everyone my son is a shill
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Apr 2012 @ 4:27am
  
  Re:
  I don't know, I think the comments that get reported are those that don't even bother to pretend to attempt to make even a shred of a piece of a start of a formation of a logical argument.
  
  You know, like the one you just made.
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- abc gum, 17 Apr 2012 @ 4:32am
  
  Re:
  and accusation of patent infringement is a traffic ticket.
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  - The eejit (profile), 17 Apr 2012 @ 7:32am
    
    Re: Re:
    Yup, except one is covered by the Penal code, and one is civil.
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Apr 2012 @ 5:06am
  
  Re:
  No, no one would possibly REPORT (not "censor", because it's still viewable for those who want to see such stupidity) such an inane and completely off topic comment, nor one that obviously adds such insight to the article at hand. /s
  
  You don't want your comments reported, try actually making them relevant.
  
  Cue shill replying with a further moronic comment.
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Apr 2012 @ 6:32am
  
  Re:
  Really I am envious of comments like this. They are so short, yet speak volumes! One could write a five page essay examining all the stupid that has been packed into these two short lines.
  
  Truly some masterful compression techniques there!
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- Minimum Wage Shill, 17 Apr 2012 @ 7:53am
  
  maybe next time
  FIRST!!!!
  
  Oh ... darn!
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Apr 2012 @ 4:36am

Not that I feel sorry for Facebook and their billions, but these lawsuits are pretty pathetic.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Apr 2012 @ 5:03am

funny, you don't seem to be bothered about facecrack, making money off others patented items, something someone worked to make, because that's what innovation is all about to freetards, just steal what you want, your entitled to it, right??
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- E. Zachary Knight (profile), 17 Apr 2012 @ 6:29am
  
  Re:
  Yes. Because Facebook has a team of 2 million patent lawyers just trawling the USPTO for patents to steal. I mean, why waste all that money on R&D and developers when all you need is a 2 million lawyer team to help you steal innovations.
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- John Fenderson (profile), 17 Apr 2012 @ 8:33am
  
  Re:
  I'd be bothered by it if Facebook violated legitimate patents. But I have yet to see where they've been accused of that.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Apr 2012 @ 5:21am

"where many companies feel compelled to "settle" at almost any cost, due to pressure from Wall Street investors who don't understand patent battles, and fear that any prolonged fight is too costly"

Should it really surprise us that Wall Street isn't smart enough to think ahead? Given all the damage their short sightedness has inflicted onto the world's economy, including knowingly defrauding their own customers by selling them 'great' investments they themselves were betting against without telling said customers.
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Zakida Paul (profile), 17 Apr 2012 @ 6:14am

Lawsuits, lawsuits, lawsuits! Do Americans know no other way of resolving disputes?
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- Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 17 Apr 2012 @ 6:26am
  
  Re:
  Sure.... tanks and guided missiles seem to be a popular option too.
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  - Zakida Paul (profile), 17 Apr 2012 @ 6:39am
    
    Re: Re:
    I forgot about that, don't I look foolish.
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    - The eejit (profile), 17 Apr 2012 @ 7:33am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Quick! Hide the lawyers, before they find ou-
      
      [Grey voice]TOO LATE, PITIFUL MORTAL. YOU ARE NOW LIABLE FOR $13 TRILLION DOLLARS IN LEGAL FEES[/Grey voice]
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Mesonoxian Eve (profile), 17 Apr 2012 @ 7:14am

No mention of Winklevi?

The world's going to hell in a hand basket.
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NullOp, 17 Apr 2012 @ 8:35am

Sued!
Think of these suits in this light: "We just want our piece of your pie. It's not personal, it's just business..." Business is a dirty, dirty game with the only rule being...WIN!
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