(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Twitter Inc, the microblogging service that went public last year, agreed to buy 900 patents from International Business Machines Corp to gain access to new technology and build a defence against infringement suits
Financial terms weren't disclosed. The agreement, signed last month and announced on Friday, also resolves a dispute that prompted IBM to write to Twitter last year about possible infringement of at least three patents
The purchase "provides us with greater intellectual property protection and gives us freedom of action to innovate on behalf of all those who use our service," Ben Lee, legal director for Twitter, said in a statement
Twitter had nine patents and 95 pending applications before its initial public offering in November, far fewer than other leading technology companies. The company said in a regulatory filing that could make it a target for litigation and limit its ability to fight back by asserting its own patents
"They weren't facing a lot but it's an increasing distraction" for technology companies, said Richard Doherty, research director of Envisioneering Group, a technology assessment consultancy in Seaford, New York. "At some point it becomes just a balancing function to take advantage of warehouses of intellectual property, like at IBM.
In its letter to Twitter, IBM cited patents relating to a networking technique based on common contacts, a way to show advertisements without interfering with an interactive site, and using interconnected computers to reduce Web traffic. The San Francisco-based company also will probably gain IBM inventions related to things like video compression, Doherty said
"As Twitter expands and starts delivering video, they need to increase their intellectual property portfolio," he said. "We believe some know-how is going along with the patent transfer, not just patent numbers.
The patents include ones that directly relate to Twitter's business plan
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