Revealed that IBM complained of Groupon based on patents of the 1990's

ByKansir

Based on the contents of the patent that IBM had applied for and acquired in the 1990s, it became clear that he filed an action seeking damages against "groupup" which operates a joint purchase type coupon site.

IBM sues Groupon over 1990s patents related to Prodigy | Ars Technica
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/03/ibm-sues-groupon-saying-it-infringes-patents-related-to-1990s-prodigy-service/

IBM is seeking damages against Groupon as the online business model used by Groupon violates four of IBM's patents. The four patents that are the basis for thatUS 5796967(Application providing method in interactive service) andUS 7072849(How to provide advertisements in interactive services), but these two patents were filed in 1993 and 1998, respectively, and these are IBM's largest retailer "Sears Row Personal computer communication service which we jointly provided with "Back"Prodigy(Prodigy) "that was used in the technology.

ByThe Atlantic

In addition, the remaining two patentsUS 5961601WhenUS 7631346, It is said that the service that provided the way Groupon logged in with Facebook account conflicts with these patents.

According to a complaint filed in the United States District Court for the State of Delaware, IBM does not seek to respond to repeated negotiations from IBM by Groupupon, continues to refuse the licensing agreement of IBM's technology, while patent infringement of IBM technology We are complaining that we have continued. In response to Ars Technica's interview, IBM's PR said "Over the past three years, IBM has been appealing to have a fair and reasonable patent license agreement with Groupon, our intention is that Groupup is responsible It is in concluding an agreement to recognize and compensate for using IBM's technology, "I reply by e-mail. It is said that Groupon does not respond to Ars Technica's interview.

ByTodd Barnard

IBM is not the first time that this type of lawsuit has taken place, but in 2015 it has filed an appeal against Priceline, Kayak, OpenTable, and in a patent trial against Twitter in 2013,Repayment of 36 million dollars from Twitter(About 3.6 billion yen at the time at that time). In addition, in 2006, we also filed a patent lawsuit against Amazon, and also reached a settlement the following year.

IBM is showing an aggressive attitude towards patent infringement by other companies, but the company is also aggressive about patent acquisition, and in 2015Acquired 7355 patentsHe said he is protecting the position of the company that acquired the most patents in the United States for 23 consecutive years. Although it is such IBM, on the other hand it seems that there is also a situation where large layoffs (temporary dismissal of employees) are being implemented.

Reports Coming in of Big IBM Layoffs Underway in the U.S. - IEEE Spectrum
http://spectrum.ieee.org/view-from-the-valley/computing/it/reports-coming-in-of-mass-us-layoffs-underway-today-at-ibm