Twitter is working on increasing its intellectual assets in 2014.

Twitter buys arsenal of patents from IBM

February 6, 2014 7:04 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

We may be keeping a close eye on Google's patent portfolio, but they are not the only company looking to protect its intellectual property through the use of cross-licensing agreements.

Twitter, the social network that has almost 1 billion users realized it may have inadvertently violated three of IBM's patents before it went public last year, Businessweek explained. Instead of going to court over these innovations, IBM allowed Twitter to purchase about 900 patents as well as establish a cross-licensing agreement, which covers Twitter's bases from future litigation.

Prior to the San Francisco firm's plan to join the stock market, the company was unaware of its lack of intellectual assets. Twitter is beginning to experiment and enhance the website for its users, so it became more clear that they needed to have the rights to the proper tools.

"As Twitter expands and starts delivering video, they need to increase their intellectual property portfolio," Richard Doherty, Envisioneering Group research director told Businessweek. "We believe some know-how is going along with the patent transfer, not just patent numbers."

Doherty added that a lack of intellectual property protection may not be an "immediate threat" to Twitter, but as patent lawsuits become more of the norm, it is worthwhile to be prepared for the worst.

IBM, on the other hand, has been leading the patent application race for the past two decades. Reuters noted that as of 2013, IBM's patent portfolio consists of more than 41,000 patents.

"This acquisition of patents from IBM and licensing agreement provide us with greater intellectual property protection and give us freedom of action to innovate on behalf of all those who use our service," Twitter's legal director Ben Lee said in a joint statement with IBM last week.

If the technology industry's biggest players are concerned about their intellectual property, it may be important for startups and smaller business owners to pay attention. A small business attorney can serve as a valuable resource in 2014 to provide legal advice and information on how to apply for certain protections. 

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