Twitter announced on Friday that it has acquired over 900 patents from IBM, and that it has entered into a cross-licensing agreement with the Internet services and software company. IBM had issued a complaint against Twitter previously for patent infringement, as reported in an S-1 filing ahead of the social network’s IPO late last year. IBM was seeking a settlement according to that document, and while Twitter appeared ready to defend itself, potentially in court, this deal today indicates that instead the two companies have come to an agreement that involves Twitter buying some of IBM’s intellectual property. In the original filing, IBM had cited “at least three” patents it suggested Twitter infringed upon, so the scope of this deal is obviously much broader.
