4 ms·

Why did Yahoo think they can attack facebook without facebook countersuing? Did management gone bonker?

• vibrunazo 15y ago
  IANAL, but I suppose that, since patent claims are extremely subjective to one judge's personal opinion. That objectivity is of very little concern, the results are very unpredictable. There's very little precedence to most software patent suits. So even something that seem objectively ridiculous, could turn out to be a profitable attempt if you get lucky. So in short, they know they can get lucky, measure costs and potential benefits, and assume the risk is worth it. Maybe if it seem unlikely to win. A dying company doesn't have much to lose. And in the odd occasion that luck is in their favor. They could win a huge load of money.
• jballanc 15y ago
  I don't think they were expecting to win in court. For the number of patent suits that are brought, the number that are seen through to a judgment is really quite small. I can't find the link at the moment, but there was a story that Yahoo did essentially the same thing to Google before their IPO. The suit was dropped in exchange for Yahoo getting some of Google's pre-IPO stock. I'd guess the same thing is going on here. The suit/counter-suit is likely nothing more than a trumped up "we want some of your stock" negotiation.
• dailyllama 15y ago
  They didn't think that. At all. Ever. Counterclaims are the standard response to an initial filing. This is exactly what everyone, everywhere who has even a passing familiarity with litigation in the United States expected.