Facebook vs Yahoo - round two

Mashable reports.

Now Facebook is countersuing Yahoo, denying Yahoo's allegations that Facebook infringed on the company's patents - and claiming Yahoo is actually infringing on Facebook's patents.

Facebook's counter-claim denies Yahoo's statements that many of Facebook's tools and features on the site stem from developments made by Yahoo. The social network also says Yahoo is in violation of some of its patents, including patents the company holds for “generating a feed of stories personalised for members of a social network”, and “tagging digital media”.

Reuters writes that the duelling claims mark an expanding web of patent litigation that has already caught up the smartphone and tablet sectors and high-tech stalwarts such as Apple, Microsoft and Motorola Mobility.

Yahoo's lawsuit against Facebook came at a delicate time, as the world's largest Internet social networking service is preparing for an initial public offering that could value the company at up to $100 billion.

In its lawsuit, Yahoo claimed that Mark Zuckerberg's company's "entire social network model" was based on its technology, and infringed its rights to innovations involved in messaging, privacy controls, advertising, customisation and social networking, BBC notes.

Neither company's services nor operations are likely to be threatened by the spat.