It seems Google and Yahoo are getting sued quite a bit without having a good shot at winning. Now, both companies are facing an even bigger lawsuit, as Xerox, which has a market cap of $8 billion and a genuine legal team, is taking them to court.
Xerox is claiming that Google and Yahoo have “infringed” on two patents it holds. Susan Decker explained this morning that, “One patent, issued in 2004, is for a way to automatically generate a query based on keyword searches . . . . The second patent, issued in 2001, is for a way of updating pages based on user reviews.”
Xerox wants to be compensated for Google and Yahoo’s alleged infringement and wants to bar them from using the tech again without its consent.
It’s no surprise to hear that Google and Yahoo aren’t liable to hand over money to Xerox. One of Google’s lawyers already described the claims as being “without merit,” and Carol Bartz isn’t going to back down without a fight.
So, this can turn into an ugly legal battle and AdSense, AdWords, Google Maps, Google Video, YouTube, the Yahoo Publisher Network, Yahoo Search Marketing, Yahoo Shopping, and the Y!Q Contextual Search tool might be affected by the outcome.