Tech giant IBM is suing Groupon this week over the unauthorized use of its patented technology. IBM are seeking $167 million in compensation from the e-commerce marketplace.
The case will be held in District Court in Delaware, where a jury will decide whether they agree with IBM’s contention that Groupon had employed IBM’s e-commerce technology without paying a license fee. IBM claim that other companies like Amazon and Facebook bought licenses to use its technologies for between $20 million to $50 million, while the deals marketplace refuses to do so.”The new kid on the block refuses to take responsibility”, states IBM lawyer John Desmarais “IBM spends literally billions of dollars every year on research and development to make our lives easier.”
However, Groupon’s legal representation suggests that the lawsuit should not be valid because “IBM did not invent the world wide web”. Two of the patents are old patents that came out of the pre-internet Prodigy online service from the 80’s. The most recent patent is a single sign-on technology.
David Haddon, representing Groupon, accused the tech-giants of using the patents to con money out of other companies. We are here because IBM has another business that IBM does not talk about in its commercials,” he said. “In that business IBM uses its huge stock of patents as a club to get money from other companies.”
The lawsuit first began in 2016 over the infringement of four patents.
Source: The patent lawyer magazine
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