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Have you heard the internet buzzing? With all of the commotion going on between two internet giants: Facebook and Yahoo you must have certainly asked yourself "What in the world is going on?" At the end of 2011 Facebook, Inc. has had 56 U.S registered patents which can be considered rather small when compared with other internet giants.

Yahoo has filed a lawsuit against the social network claiming that 10 of those patents are infringing their rights. Those patents cover advertising, privacy control, and social networking. This conflict started nearly a month ago when Yahoo threatened the internet social networking giant with legal action if they were to not license their patents.

Upon receiving the lawsuit Facebook declared they will defend themselves against the "puzzling actions" by their longtime business partner, Yahoo. In a statement released earlier by the social giant they said, “We're disappointed that Yahoo, a longtime business partner of Facebook and a company that has substantially benefited from its association with Facebook, has decided to resort to litigation." Both companies have connections within their online services that have greatly benefited both of their businesses with traffic.

The company with over 1000 registered patents defended its lawsuit, saying "substantial resources in research and development" were invested over the years. The corporation’s lawsuit states that without their innovations, Facebook would not enjoy "repeat visitors or substantial advertising revenue." Cases similar to this in the past with other companies are often settled with some sort of licensing deal.