UPDATED 09:05 EDT / MARCH 13 2012

Yahoo Takes Facebook to Court, Apple Still Battling Proview, Motorola

Here’s a quick recap of the latest happenings in the patent disputes that have taken over Silicon Valley, from Yahoo and Facebook to Apple and Proview and Motorola:

Yahoo!

Last month, Yahoo! made it known that they are contemplating on imposing a licensing fee over Facebook using 10-20 of their patents in advertising, the personalization of web sites, social networking and messaging.  Looks like they’re done contemplating, as they filed a lawsuit against Facebook in the Federal District Court in San Jose, California.

Yahoo! claims that Facebook knowingly violated some of their core intellectual properties, which were issued from 1999 to 2010 and cover advertising, privacy, customization, social networking and messaging.

“Yahoo has invested substantial resources in research and development through the years, which has resulted in numerous patented inventions of technology that other companies have licensed,” a Yahoo spokesman said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the matter with Facebook remains unresolved and we are compelled to seek redress in federal court. We are confident that we will prevail.”

Apple

Apple is claiming that Proview Electronics is misleading the courts and the public with their claim that they are the rightful owners of the iPad trademark since they bought it in 2009.

“Proview is misleading Chinese courts and customers with claims that the iPad trademarks cannot be transferred, or that mistakes were made in handling the transaction,” the Apple statement stated.  “We respect Chinese laws and regulations, and as a company that generates a lot of intellectual property we would never knowingly abuse someone else’s trademarks.”

Apple added that because Proview is in debt, they are trying to milk money out of them. Proview, which has been seeking to settle the dispute out of court, is offended by Apple’s claims and stated that Apple is the one misleading the court and the public.

“It is wrong for Apple to do this,” Proview lawyer Xie Xianghui said.

European Union

According to the European Union, Apple and Motorola Mobility talked about a potential cross-licensing agreement to end their legal disputes but the talks did not come to fruition as Motorola wanted Apple to license their full patent portfolio in order to gain access to Motorola’s standard-essential patents.

In the EU document, it was stated that “Apple also argues that its refusal to accede to this demand led Motorola Mobility to sue Apple in an attempt to exclude Apple’s products from the market.”

Apple and Motorola declined to comment on the issue.

 


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