Fb buys AOL patents from Microsoft

Facebook is paying Microsoft $550 million in cash for a chunk of the patent portfolio that Microsoft recently acquired from AOL.

This is all part of Facebook's effort to fatten up its patent war chest as it prepares to go public next month and seeks to stave off potential litigation. It's currently embroiled in a big patent fight with Yahoo, and last month Facebook struck a deal with IBM to purchase some 750 of its patents, which cover "software and networking" technologies.

Earlier this month, Microsoft spent more than $1 billion to buy roughly 800 patents from AOL, and it's now selling the majority of them to Facebook. Facebook is buying about 650 AOL patents and patent applications, and also gain a license to the 275 other patents and patent applications that Microsoft will continue to own.

"Today's agreement with Facebook enables us to recoup over half of our costs while achieving our goals from the AOL auction," Brad Smith, executive vice president and general counsel, Microsoft said in a statement. "We had submitted the winning AOL bid in order to obtain a durable license to the full AOL portfolio and ownership of certain patents that complement our existing portfolio."