Yahoo, Facebook settle patent dispute

Yahoo and Facebook have settled a patent dispute, according to a statement Facebook released Friday afternoon.

As part of the deal, the companies will enter into a "patent portfolio cross-license." They will also enter into an advertising partnership and expand their content distribution arrangements.

The companies will bring Yahoo's "large media event coverage to Facebook users by collaborating on social integrations on the Yahoo site," according to the statement.

Yahoo, under the leadership of then-CEO Scott Thompson, sued Facebook for patent infringement in March.

Yahoo accused Facebook of infringing patents covering technologies related to advertising, privacy, site customization, social networking and integrated communications in social networking. Facebook's News Feed infringes Yahoo's customization patents and the way Facebook handles privacy infringes Yahoo patents as well, Yahoo claimed.

"Facebook's entire social network model, which allows users to create profiles for and connect with, among other things, persons and businesses, is based on Yahoo's patented social networking technology," Yahoo alleged in the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Hearings in the case were set to begin later this month.

(More to follow.)

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