[ossig] IBM sues Amazon over IP infringement - Business - News - ZDNet Asia

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http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/business/0,39044229,61962082,00.htm

*IBM sues Amazon over IP infringement*
By Gemma Simpson 
<mailto:zdnews-asia at cnet.com&Subject=Feedback%20on%20%27IBM%20sues%20Amazon%20over%20IP%20infringement%27>, 
Special to ZDNet Asia
Wednesday, October 25 2006 11:41 AM

*IBM has filed two patent infringement lawsuits against Amazon.com, 
accusing it of exploiting Big Blue's intellectual property (IP).*

IBM holds more than 40,000 patents worldwide and is suing Amazon over 
breaching five of these patents, including the use of hyperlinks, 
electronic catalogs and online advertising. Financial information 
concerning the magnitude of the damages was not disclosed.

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In a statement, IBM said it has attempted to resolve its concerns with 
Amazon over the patent infringement for the past four years--since 
September 2002--but the online store has shown no willingness to have 
meaningful discussions.

Dr. John E. Kelly, senior vice president of IBM technology and IP, said 
the case has been filed as IBM's intellectual property is being 
knowingly and unfairly exploited.

Kelly added in a statement: "When someone takes out [intellectual] 
property, without our permission through a license, we have no option 
but to protect it through every means available to us."

IBM spokesman Edward Barbini, said: "These are high-quality patents... 
To not enforce our patent rights would be a discredit to those who 
fairly and lawfully use these licenses."

It is not Amazon's first patent battle. The online retailer's 
"one-click" patent claim 
<http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/hardware/0,39042972,13020840,00.htm> was 
thrown out of court in 2001 following its attempt to stop Barnesandnoble 
using the buying process.

IBM has also been slammed as hypocritical by some anti-patent 
campaigners following a decision last year 
<http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,39212557,00.htm> to 
allow open source developers to use 500 software patents without fear of 
an infringement lawsuit.

/Gemma Simpson of Silicon.com reported from London. Caroline McCarthy of 
News.com contributed to this article./



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