April 23, 2012 - Last month Facebook bought 750 IBM patents to beef up its portfolio in preparation for two big events: its IPO and the lawsuit filed against it by Yahoo. Facebook has now bought 650 more patents from Microsoft - patents that are part of the 925-patent portfolio that Microsoft purchased from AOL earlier this month for $1 billion.
Neither Microsoft nor Facebook have specified which technologies the 650 AOL patents and patent applications cover. But it's clear that Facebook's patent portfolio has come a long way since the end of 2011, when it consisted of a mere 56 patents.
“Today’s agreement with Microsoft represents an important acquisition for Facebook,” said Ted Ullyot, Facebook's general counsel, in a press release issued by both companies. “This is another significant step in our ongoing process of building an intellectual property portfolio to protect Facebook’s interests over the long term.”
Facebook's IPO is expected to take place on May 17.