Yahoo! sued Xfire in February, alleging that Xfire had infringed
on Yahoo!'s patent number 6,699,125, which covers "a game and
messenger client-server system", allowing gamers to chat easily
with each other on-line.
Yahoo! also alleged that Xfire had begun to develop a similar
system after Chris Kirmse, one of the co-inventor's of Yahoo!'s
system, started work for Xfire, according to reports.
Yesterday Xfire formally responded to the allegations, filing an
answer in a San Francisco federal court that refuted the
claims.
Xfire also filed a countersuit, accusing Yahoo! of using a
lawsuit as an attempt to drive Xfire out of business (and therefore
avoid direct competition in the marketplace) or to force Xfire to
sell or license its proprietary technology to Yahoo! for far less
than fair market value to settle the expensive litigation.
In particular the countersuit claims that Yahoo! chose to issue
the patent suit without first sending the usual "cease and desist
letter," meaning that Xfire first learned of the complaint the
evening before it was filed.
Xfire also claims that it has made good faith attempts to
address the search engine's concerns, including an offer to allow
Yahoo!'s co-founders to review Xfire's code or to mediate the
dispute by turning the disputed code over to a neutral third
party.
"We are very disappointed that Yahoo! has refused all of our
offers to immediately demonstrate we don't infringe," said Mike
Cassidy, CEO of Xfire. "The facts of the case will prove we have
not infringed."
The countersuit seeks a dismissal of Yahoo!'s complaint, an
order enjoining Yahoo!'s unfair business practices, and damages
resulting from Yahoo!'s unfair business practices.
The search engine has yet to comment on the filing.
