Twitter has signed a patent cross-license agreement with IBM for over 900 patents for an undisclosed sum, to strengthen its defence against any possible patent infringement.
The patent agreement follows a dispute after which IBM wrote to Twitter last year about possible infringement of at least three patents.
Twitter legal director Ben Lee said, "This acquisition of patents from IBM and licensing agreement provides us with greater intellectual property protection and gives us freedom of action to innovate on behalf of all those who use our service."
IBM Intellectual Property general manager Ken King said the company is are pleased to reach this agreement with Twitter because it illustrates the value of patented IBM inventions and demonstrates its commitment to licensing access to its broad patent portfolio.
"We look forward to a productive relationship with Twitter in the future," King added.
The new cross-licensing agreement is expected to protect the social networking site Twitter from patent infringing cases in the future.
According to the reports, IBM is one of the largest owner of patents with about 41,000 patents in its name.
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