Facebook to pay Microsoft $550 million for patents

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Facebook announced on Monday it would pay Microsoft $550 million for some of the patents the software giant recently acquired from AOL.

Facebook will pick up around 650 of the 925 patents Microsoft bought earlier this month in an auction from AOL in a nearly $1.1 billion deal, Facebook and Microsoft said in a statement.

Facebook's general counsel called the move "another significant step in our ongoing process of building an intellectual property portfolio to protect Facebook's interests over the long term."

"Today's agreement with Facebook enables us to recoup over half of our costs while achieving our goals from the AOL auction," added Microsoft executive vice president Brad Smith.

Facebook also arranged to license the remaining 275 remaining patents or applications in the portfolio being bought by Microsoft, which gets the right to use the patented technology going to the California-based social network.

"Today's agreement with Microsoft represents an important acquisition for Facebook," said the social network's general counsel Ted Ullyot.

"This is another significant step in our ongoing process of building an intellectual property portfolio to protect Facebook's interests over the long term."