IBM Sues Airbnb for Patent Royalties on E-Commerce Technologies

Airbnb built its business on the back of IBM’s e-commerce inventions without permission, infringing four patents, the tech giant claims.

• IBM sued Airbnb and is seeking a court order blocking further unauthorized use of its inventions
• “After six years” of failed negotiations for a cross-license of patents with Airbnb, “enough is enough,” IBM said in the complaint, filed Wednesday in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware; IBM has cross-licenses with “dozens of similar companies” including Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook
• Two of the four patents in the case were among those a Delaware jury in 2018 found ...