Facebook goes shopping again!!!

This time, according to a VentureBeat, Facebook acquired 18 key patents related to social networks from MOL Global.

Out of the 18 patents, seven were awarded to Friendster, while the remaining are still pending. The seven patents and eleven patent application is said to have been transfered on June 7.

According to VentureBeat, the patents include:

a “system and method for managing an online social network,” “feeding updates to landing pages of users of an online social network from external sources,” and a “system, method and apparatus for connecting users in an online computer system based on their relationships within social networks,” among others. Together, they appear to give Facebook control over a substantial portfolio of intellectual property covering the basic operations of any social network.”

The overall deal, which included cash was valued at $40 million, reports GigaOm

The deal makes  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg undisputed king of social network, not only in terms of social service and users, but also in terms of intellectual properties.

Search engine giant Google Inc. and Facebook Inc., the largest social-networking site in the world,  have been slapped with a lawsuit by Wireless Ink Corp.

According to a Bloomberg report, Wireless Ink Corp., which runs the Winksite service, has claimed that Facebook Mobile and Google Buzz are infringing a patent related to ways of offering content that is accessible by mobile devices.

The patent issued in October 2009 was apparently filed back in 2004. The firm says the defendants (Google Inc. and Facebook Inc.) must have been aware of the patent, “given the time and resources they have invested in their desktop and mobile web sites as well as their strategic importance.”

Respective spokesman for Google and Facebook said that their company is reviewing the complaint and didn’t offer any immediate comments.

Wireless Ink Corp., with more than 75,000 registered users, is looking for cash compensation and a ban on further use of its invention.

This isn’t the first time Facebook has faced patent-infringement claims over its service. A Boston company called Tele-publishing Inc. sued Facebook over a patent related to a method of providing a personal page last year. Facebook was also sued by Mekiki Co., owner of a Japanese social networking site, in 2009 over patents related to ways to identify “friends” through existing contacts.

Facebook is being sued, yet again, for patent issues. It seems that Phoenix Media/Communications feels that Facebook is violating a patent that relates to setting up online personal pages. A division of the company’s People2People Group, named Tele-Publishing, filed their complaint in the US District Court, located in Boston, last Wednesday.

It is presently unclear as to what damages Phoenix is seeking. They are claiming that Facebook’s computer network and process in creating personal pages are covered by one or more patent’s issued by the USPTO in June of 2001. They allege that the patent includes an online template and graphics for the use of building a personal page. It also providers users with a secure way of sharing their personal information with other computer networks. Facebook has fired back saying its ‘without merit and will be fought vigorously’.