Yahoo Sues FACEBOOK For Patent Infringement. Good Luck With that!

Living in a post-legal world where it’s not about adhering to the law but rather being Titanic and Rich, this is a bit amusing. Yahoo has decided to sue the Leviathan. May the Gods smile upon you.

Gizmodo:

As we reported last month, Yahoo has made good on its threat to take Facebook to court over alleged patent infringements. Apparently ,Yahoo is taking a page out of Kodak’s playbook.

“Facebook’s entire social network model, which allows users to create profile for and connect with, among other things, persons and businesses, is based on Yahoo’s patented social networking technology,” Yahoo’s lawsuit reads. The the 10-20 patents in question reportedly cover an array of functions including the NewsFeed feature, advertising practices, website personalization, and aspects of messaging. Yahoo is asking for triple damages to strip Facebook’s ability to use any technology that is derived from the patents in question. The two companies were in talks to negotiate license terms for these patents, though those have obviously broken down.

While Yahoo taking the gloves off against a partner company seems rather brash, multiple sources within the company told AllThingsD that Yahoo’s new CEO, Scott Thompson, is the one behinds the reins of the lawsuit, “the decision to move was closely held, sources said, with only Thompson and legal chief Michael Callahan largely working on it.”

However, if this lawsuit plays out anything like Yahoo’s similar one against Google in 2004, we can expect a rapid settlement right about the time FB goes up for its IPO.

Oh yeah…They’ll probably just settle, huh? Well. Fuck. Fuck them then! We here at OL need to drum up some money-cash-snagging claim to take the ducets out of Facebook’s wallet. Just something enough to get them to settle, throwing what they consider peanuts and I consider life savings at us. Ideas?