Amazon settles their legal disputes with IBM

Amazon settles their legal disputes with IBM

Amazon.com has said that they have now settled all their legal disputes with the US based tech giant IBM. The ecommerce giant paid IBM an undisclosed amount of money to settle all outstanding patent lawsuits.

The two companies have also now agreed a long-term patent cross-licensing agreement. Amazon.com now gets access to IBM’s patents on Web technology.

Amazon.com added that this agreement would now give them greater freedom to innovate. IBM added that they are now looking forward to a more productive relationship between the two companies.

IBM had sued Amazon.com in 2006 claiming that they were infringing upon some of their owned patents. These include the patents related to storing data in an interactive network, adjusting hypertext links with weighted user goals and activities and ordering items using an electronic catalogue.

Amazon had at that time claimed that the IBM’s patent were so broad that they would apply on anyone using a web browser to access the web. Interestingly, Amazon itself had patented one-click online shopping method and had sued rival Barnes & Noble.com for infringement of this patent in 1999.