SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook and Yahoo reached an agreement Friday to form a society of Internet advertising and licensing, ending their demands for ownership of patents.
The settlement resolves allegations of technology patent violation that began under the administration of former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson, who was later fired after a scandal over inaccuracies in his resume. Sources told Reuters that the chief executive (CEO, for its acronym in English) procedure, Ross Levinsohn, is the favorite to take the job.
The strategic agreement between Facebook and Yahoo - that expands an existing partnership that allows Facebook users to share content on Yahoo - includes patent cross-licensing and collaboration deals media advertising during major events like the Olympics or the Super Bowl.
"I am pleased that we could resolve this in a positive way and are looking forward to working with Ross and the directors of Yahoo," he said in a statement Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer and newest member of the board.
Yahoo, which once was the most distinctive Internet company, has struggled to accommodate a digital world dominated by companies like Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter.
Its board has gone through several problems since it rejected a takeover offer from Microsoft for 44,000 million dollars (about 35.851 million euros) in 2008 and had four CEOs in four years. The company did not say when a decision on a permanent CEO.
Demand for Yahoo had motivated some criticism that tried to get some money from a company that was about to go public in the largest IPO in Silicon Valley.
Facebook sued in March, saying the biggest social network in the world had violated ten patents, including several covering online advertising technology. In its application, Yahoo said that Facebook was considered "one of the worst performing advertising pages" before adopting the ideas of Yahoo.
Facebook, which became public in May, filed a countersuit a month later and myopic Yahoo ranked for its decision to prioritize "litigation innovation."
Facebook has been strengthening its patent arsenal. In April, announced an agreement to pay Microsoft $ 550 million for hundreds of patents that created AOL.
