In March, the financially troubled Yahoo decided to file a lawsuit against Facebook, claiming that the social networking service was in violation of a number of its patents. At the time, Facebook issued an official response, saying that it would "...defend [itself] vigorously against these puzzling actions."
Now Facebook has officially taken the fight directly to Yahoo. Reuters reports that the company has filed its own counterclaim, charging that Yahoo itself is in violation of 10 of Facebook"s own patents. Some of those claims center on Yahoo"s Flickr online photo storage service.The lawsuit claims that Flickr, specifically its photostream and activity features, infringe on a Facebook patent that"s based on creating a personalized feed of news stories.
In a statement, Facebook general counsel Ted Ullyot said, "While we are asserting patent claims of our own, we do so in response to Yahoo"s short-sighted decision to attack one of its partners and prioritize litigation over innovation."
So far Yahoo has yet to comment on Facebook"s actions today. In its previous lawsuit, Yahoo said that Facebook had violated ten of Yahoo"s patents, including those relating to online advertising as well as some social networking features.
In related news, PandoDaily reports via unnamed sources that Yahoo could be ready to cut thousands of jobs at its US and overseas offices sometime later this week.