Latest salvo in Facebook suit claims Memcached is Yahoo's
Yahoo’s decision to recapture its lost profit potential by asserting its rights under its patent portfolio has already drawn a lot of criticism in tech circles. Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson has declared war on Facebook and others claiming “they own the web” by virtue of their large portfolio of patents. But now it seems they are going to claim patent rights over open source technologies as well.
In an update to Facebook’s S-1 filing for their impending IPO, Facebook discloses a recent letter from Yahoo in which Yahoo makes claim to 16 other patents that Facebook is violating. According to Facebook, these 16 patents deal with open source technologies that Facebook uses in its data centers.
Among the technologies claimed under patent is the widely used memcached open source cache technology that is widely used by many big data, database and other open source projects. If Yahoo is going to claim ownership of memcached and look for royalty or licensing fees, it could set off tremors throughout Silicon Valley and the rest of the tech world.
One has to wonder whether Yahoo really wants to go down this path of being a patent troll. Perhaps it is contained to just their ongoing lawsuit with Facebook. I tend to doubt it though. If things don’t improve in other areas for Yahoo, their patent portfolio may be the only asset they have to keep them viable. Certainly there are stockholders looking to maximize their return who are already calling for more patent litigation.
Speaking of shareholders, there is of course the hedge fund manager leading another group of Yahoo shareholders demanding that CEO Scott Thompson be replaced due to his claiming a computer science degree that he didn’t have. If Thompson were to be replaced the whole strategy of pursuing patent enforcement may or may not change.
In the meantime many in open source are waiting for the other shoe to drop. Will Yahoo assert more rights on open source technologies? Hadoop had its roots at Yahoo for instance.
I for one hope that Yahoo and their leadership don’t give in to the short term blood lust of its shareholders. Long term Yahoo will be successful if it gets back to innovating and making great products. Becoming a patent troll trying to live off its past may provide a short term boost, but is a long term death sentence.
