Xerox PARC accuses Facebook, Twitter, and Snap of infringing on several of its patents

[nanoguy]

In context: Xerox is not your run-of-the-mill patent troll looking to squeeze successful companies left and right while contributing nothing to society. In fact, some of today's most critical technologies that we rely on the day to day originated in its labs. Taking that into account, it may not be as surprising that a new lawsuit has been brought up against social media companies.

Social media giants including Facebook, Twitter, ByteDance and Snap have been accused of many things in recent times, from destroying users' privacy and selling your personal data to third parties, to censoring free speech, creating thought bubbles, interfering in political elections, and everything in between.

But as it turns out, there is one area where they haven't fought as many battles: patent infringement. That is, if we don't take into account that one time in 2018 when BlackBerry sued Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp for making unlicensed use of its mobile messaging patents.

This week, Xerox PARC filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Central District of California against Facebook alleging it uses several of its patents across its apps and websites. Specifically, the patents are related to technology used by Facebook in core functionalities like the News Feed, notifications, groups features, automated content filters, as well as their primary driver of revenue: personalized and targeted advertisement services.

Must read: Xerox PARC: A Nod to the Minds Behind the GUI, Ethernet, Laser Printing, and More

In court filings, PARC explained that it has been "at the forefront of technological innovation for over 50 years. In addition to inventing the first personal computer, PARC is responsible for many cutting-edge technologies we now consider indispensable to our daily lives, like the laser printer, Ethernet, the windows, pop-up menus, and icons that form today's computer "desktop;" a word processing program that led to Microsoft Word; and computer animation systems that later earned both an Emmy and an Academy Award."

By contrast, Facebook is seen as a "relatively young social media company" that achieved its success thanks in no small part to patents awarded to Xerox PARC over decades of research.

Xerox also sued Twitter and Snap for infringing on mostly the same patents, but details are scarce about those specific complaints. At this point, it looks like Xerox is seeking to reach an agreement with the companies, but that could take years to materialize.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/87759-xerox-parc-accuses-facebook-twitter-snap-infringing-several.html

 

[koblongata]

A questionable intention though bringing this up this late.

 

[noel24]

"Ain't no rest for the wicked, patents don't grow on trees" - I see what You did There, but do You insinuate Xerox is wh*re, thief or televangelist (wh*re and thief)???

 

[psycros]

Xerox PARC couldn't even win a suit against Apple which *literally* stole their GUI because the courts of the time said you couldn't patent "look and feel". Somehow the fact that dozens of companies had sued and won on exactly those grounds starting in the 1930's didn't figure into their reasoning, but Apple was printing money in the 80's just as it does now. When it comes to patent law the courts are usually for sale.

 

[mbrowne5061]

A questionable intention though bringing this up this late.

For all we know, they have been trying to quietly reach an agreement behind the scenes for a while now. Without knowing the specifics of the patent infringement, it is hard to say if this has been on-going since day 1, or if it was a line they crossed later-on.