International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) filed two lawsuits on Monday that allege that important components that are the foundation of Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) Web site were developed and patented years before-at IBM.
IBM contends that Amazon, the massive online retailer who sells everything from books to jewelry to the tune of $10 billion this year, infringed on five IBM patents that determine how the site suggests products to consumers, displays advertising and stores data.
IBM filed some of the first patents in 1980 and has licensed many of the same patents to other companies. Amazon.com seems to be the first to decide they won't work with IBM on a license deal. IBM contends they have tried to negotiate with Amazon since 2002.
Amazon has filed patents of their own, with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office re-examining at least one of them that is derided as being overly broad and obvious.
There might have been more incentive to work together if the two companies did more business with each other but Amazon does more business with Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) and very little, if any, with IBM.
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