Yahoo! has demanded licensing fees from Facebook for use of its technology. Yahoo! has asserted claims on patents that include the technical mechanisms in the Facebook's ads, privacy controls, news feed and messaging service, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters. Representatives from the two companies met on 27 February, and the talks involved 10-20 of Yahoo's patents, said the source, who was not aware of what specific dollar demands Yahoo may have made for licences. Yahoo! confirmed the talks with Facebook and said it would not hesitate to take the social networking giant to court over its patents. Yahoo! said other companies have already licensed some of the technologies at issue, and that it would act unilaterally if Facebook refused to pay for a patent licence. A Facebook spokesman said the company had not yet fully evaluated yahoo!'s claims.
