Patent Watch: E-commerce giant files counterclaims against computing behemoth over patents.
December 15, 2006

Defying IBM’s patent claims, online retailer Amazon.com countersued Big Blue in a Texas district court late Thursday

Seattle-based Amazon denied it has infringed on 5 IBM patents and filed a countersuit seeking a judgment that it did not infringe on patents and that the retail giant was entitled to attorney’s fees.  Amazon called the IBM complaint “meritless and misleading” in a statement filed with the U.S. District Court for the Easter District of Texas. 

“IBM has accused Amazon.com of infringing three patents that were not even developed at IBM, but rather were bought from a now-defunct company for the apparent purpose of threatening other companies with litigation like this to extract licensing payments,” Amazon attorneys wrote in the court filing.

Armonk, New York-based IBM in October filed two lawsuit alleging the e-commerce giant had infringed on its five of its patents (see IBM Files Patent Suits). IBM had said that its lawsuits came after four years of attempts to resolve the patent concerns. IBM had sought an unspecified amount of damages against Amazon for alleged infringement of IBM patents including those covering e-commerce.

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“IBM’s broad allegations of infringement amount to a claim that IBM invented the Internet,” Amazon attorneys wrote in the court filing Thursday. 

IBM had claimed that Amazon.com willfully infringed on five of its patents. The computing giant’s  claims included patents 5,796,967, presenting applications in an interactive service; 5,442,771, storing data in an interactive network; 7,072,849, presenting advertising in an interactive service; 5,446,891, adjusting hypertext links with weighted user goals and activities; and 5,319,542, ordering items using an electronic catalog.

Shares of Amazon climbed $0.99, or 2 percent, to $40.01 on Friday