The patents in the Yahoo!-Facebook patent war

February 28, 2012

Yahoo! has reportedly demanded licensing fees from Facebook for technology relating to advertising, the personalisation of Web sites, social networking and messaging

The move could usher in a new era of patent fights in the realm of social media.

The internet company briefed the New York Times Monday, in advance of a meeting between representatives of the two companies. Facebook said it hasn’t had enough time to review the claims and could not comment.

A Yahoo! spokesperson told Managing IP she could not pass on the numbers of the patents at issue, but a search of the USPTO database turned up some of the possible candidates. Yahoo! said there are 10 to 20 patents being asserted.

The company also sent the following emailed statement to Managing IP: “Yahoo! has a responsibility to its shareholders, employees and other stakeholders to protect its intellectual property. We have invested substantial resources into these innovations. Recognizing that, other major web and technology companies have already licensed some of these technologies. We must insist that Facebook either enter into a licensing agreement or we will be compelled to move forward unilaterally to protect our rights.”

Yahoo! is the assignee on 1,020 patents in the USPTO patent database. Here are some that include the terms the company has indicated the asserted patents cover.

Patents geared to advertising

8,108,257 Delayed advertisement insertion in videos

8,108,254	Methods to attribute conversions for online advertisement campaigns
8,073,803	Method for matching electronic advertisements to surrounding context based on their advertisement content
7,974,880	System for updating advertisement bids
7,949,562	System and method for optimizing advertisement campaigns using a limited budget
7,870,026	Selecting and displaying advertisement in a personal media space
7,865,397	Category-based advertisement
7,840,438	System and method for discounting of historical click through data for multiple versions of an advertisement
7,831,456	Advertisement display depth optimization to maximize click activity page yield
7,783,617	Personals advertisement affinities in a networked computer system
7,739,708	System and method for revenue based advertisement placement

	8,078,149	Advertising information display method, and advertising information display system
	8,069,099	Systems and methods for presenting advertising content based on publisher-selected labels
	8,060,416	Method and system for providing advertising inventory information in response to demographic inquiries
	7,949,563	System and method for collection of advertising usage information
	7,848,764	System for providing location predictive advertising
	7,844,605	Using natural search click events to optimize online advertising campaigns
	7,685,197	System and methods for indentifying the potential advertising value of terms found on web pages
	7,546,249	System and method for managing advertising inventory to maximize advertising revenue
	7,409,402	Systems and methods for presenting advertising content based on publisher-selected labels

Patents geared to social networking
	8,108,501	Searching and route mapping based on a social network, location, and time
	8,005,906	Contextual mobile local search based on social network vitality information
	7,954,058	Sharing of content and hop distance over a social network
	7,945,862	Social network site including contact-based recommendation functionality
	7,917,154	Determining mobile content for a social network based on location and time
	7,885,901	Method and system for seeding online social network contacts
	7,844,604	Automatically generating user-customized notifications of changes in a social network system
	7,636,779	Contextual mobile local search based on social network vitality information
	7,269,590	Method and system for customizing views of information associated with a social network user
	7,016,307	Method and system for finding related nodes in a social network

Patents geared to website personalisation

8,126,930		Micro-bucket testing for page optimization
8,112,703		Aggregate tag views of website information
8,112,501		Centralized registration for distributed social content services
8,095,487		System and method for biasing search results based on topic familiarity
8,060,579		User location dependent DNS lookup
8,010,996		Authentication seal for online applications
7,974,956		Authenticating a site while protecting against security holes by handling common web server configurations
7,962,523		System and method for detecting templates of a website using hyperlink analysis
7,941,420		Method for organizing structurally similar web pages from a web site
7,941,416		Harvesting of media objects from searched sites without a user having to enter the sites

7,774,330		Method and system of providing user augmented content
7,707,198		Harvesting of media objects from searched sites without a user having to enter the sites
7,617,208		User query data mining and related techniques
7,562,311		Persistent photo tray
7,882,039		System and method of adaptive personalization of search results for online dating services
7,197,544		Voice and video greeting system for person al advertisement and method
6,813,580		Method and system of automatic bandwidth detection
6,499,052		Electronic commerce system for referencing remote commerce sites at a local commerce site

Patents geared to messaging

	8,107,495		Integrating access to audio messages and instant messaging with VOIP
	8,001,102		Integration of instant messaging with internet searching
	7,917,465		System and method for providing vector terms related to instant messaging conversations
	7,822,822		Instant messaging system configured to facilitate event plan management
	7,634,072		Integrated instant messaging, routing and telephone services billing system
	7,454,472		Determining a manner in which user interface commands are processed in an instant messaging environment
	7,409,384		Integration of instant messaging with internet searching
	7,406,501		System and method for instant messaging using an e-mail protocol
	7,359,943		Providing instant messaging functionality in non-instant messaging environments
	7,260,082		Seamless interfacing for instant messaging and internet telephony across wireless networks
	7,240,214		Centrally controllable instant messaging system
	7,188,143		Messenger-controlled applications in an instant messaging environment
	7,133,900		Sharing and implementing instant messaging environments
	7,120,672		Method and system for sharing information in an instant messaging environment