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IBM sues Amazon over IP infringement
Big Blue heads to the courts...

By Gemma Simpson

Published: Tuesday 24 October 2006

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 and online advertising.

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

Dr John E Kelly, senior VP 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 licence, we have no option but to protect it through every means available to us."

It is not Amazon's first patent battle. The online retailer's "one-click" patent claim was thrown out of court in 2001 following its attempt to stop Barnes & Noble using the buying process.

IBM has also been slammed as hypocritical by some anti-patent campaigners following a decision last year to allow open source developers to use 500 software patents without fear of an infringement lawsuit.