RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – IBM has defeated Groupon in a lawsuit over four ecommerce patents.
A federal court jury in Delaware on Friday declared decided in favor of IBM but did award just half of the original amount IBM sought.
In a statement provided to WRAL TechWire, IBM hailed the decision:
“IBM invests nearly $6 billion annually in research and development, producing innovations for society. We rely on our patents to protect our innovations. We are pleased by the jury’s verdict.”
Groupon shares were down more than 7 percent in trading Friday. IBM was down 1 percent, according to business news site SeekingAlpha.
“Friday’s verdict cements the prowess of IBM’s portfolio of more than 45,000 patents and is a boon to its intellectual-property licensing revenue, which brought in $1.19 billion in 2017,” Bloomberg news reported.
“The new kid on the block refuses to take responsibility for the technology it’s using. IBM spends literally billions of dollars every year on research and development to make our lives easier.”
Groupon lawyer J. David Hadden disputed IBM’s claims.
“A key question for you in this case is whether these patents cover the world wide web,” Hadden told jurors, Bloomberg said in its report. “They do not and that is because IBM did not invent the world wide web.”
Desmarais said other firms such as Amazon, Google and Facebook had paid licensing rights to IBM for IBM technology, according to Reuters.
IBM operates one of its largest corporate campuses in RTP and employs several thousand people across North Carolina.
Read more from Bloomberg about the verdict online.
