IBM (IBM) Sells Trove of Patents to Facebook (FB)
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International Business Machines' (NYSE: IBM) stock had a little hiccup earlier, then burped itself back into place following reports the company sold a set of patents to social media giant Facebook (Nasdaq: FB)(NYSE: FB).
According to Bloomberg, IBM sold about 750 patents to Facebook. The patents are expected to aid Facebook in countering allegations of patent infringement. It wasn't made clear whether the patents are still able to be used by IBM.
The acquisition would bolster Facebook's IP portfolio, which Bloomberg noted has 56 issued patents and 503 applications filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
In addition to the infringement suit filed earlier in the month by Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), Facebook reportedly was involved with 22 patent suits in 2011.
Whether IBM is or isn't sharing the patents shouldn't matter that much to investors, however, with the tech giant securing 6,180 new patents just last year. It almost seems as if an engineer at IBM sneezes, they'll try and patent it. Think about it: that's an average of 16 patents per day, assuming a seven-day workweek.
Shares of IBM closed up 0.4 percent to $205.49 Thursday afternoon.
According to Bloomberg, IBM sold about 750 patents to Facebook. The patents are expected to aid Facebook in countering allegations of patent infringement. It wasn't made clear whether the patents are still able to be used by IBM.
The acquisition would bolster Facebook's IP portfolio, which Bloomberg noted has 56 issued patents and 503 applications filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
In addition to the infringement suit filed earlier in the month by Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), Facebook reportedly was involved with 22 patent suits in 2011.
Whether IBM is or isn't sharing the patents shouldn't matter that much to investors, however, with the tech giant securing 6,180 new patents just last year. It almost seems as if an engineer at IBM sneezes, they'll try and patent it. Think about it: that's an average of 16 patents per day, assuming a seven-day workweek.
Shares of IBM closed up 0.4 percent to $205.49 Thursday afternoon.
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