May 14, 2012 - In a dramatic turn of events - all of which have unfolded in the space of a week - Yahoo's CEO Scott Thompson is stepping down amid controversy over an imaginary computer science degree and reports that he has thyroid cancer. His interim replacement CEO is Ross Levinsohn. The news is big, and raises the question of how it will affect Yahoo's patent infringement lawsuit against Facebook.
Yahoo's unpopular and highly aggressive litigation against Facebook, a partner with which Yahoo had huge success and which drove large amounts of traffic to Yahoo, was largely driven by Thompson. That being the case, IP pundits expect that there will be a more civil tone and some attempt at settlement leading up to Facebook's initial public offering this month.