SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo filed a lawsuit against Facebook on Monday accusing the social networking giant of patent infringement.
Yahoo, in the suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accused Facebook of infringing on 10 of its patents.
“For much of the technology upon which Facebook is based Yahoo got there first and was therefore granted patents by the United States Patent Office to protect those innovations,” Yahoo said in the suit, a copy of which was posted online by the website All Things Digital.
“Yahoo’s patents relate to cutting-edge innovations in online products, including in messaging, news feed generation, social commenting, advertising display, preventing click fraud and privacy controls,” the suit said.
“Facebook’s entire social network model, which allows users to create profiles and connect with, among other things, persons and businesses, is based on Yahoo’s patented social networking technology,” it said.
CALIFORNIA
PG&E to pay $70M for pipeline blast
SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has agreed to pay $70 million in restitution for the California pipeline explosion that killed eight people in 2010.
PG&E and the city of San Bruno announced the settlement Monday in a joint statement. They say the money will be used to establish a nonprofit organization to help the community recover from the Sept. 9, 2010, blast that also destroyed 38 homes.
The San Francisco-based utility previously set up a $100 million fund to support emergency needs in the aftermath of the explosion that destroyed more than three dozen homes in the San Francisco suburb.
NEW YORK
Barnes & Noble hires Cablevision exec as CFO
NEW YORK — Barnes & Noble says it hired former Cablevision executive Michael Huseby as its new chief financial officer.
Mr. Huseby, 57, replaces interim CFO Allen Lindstrom. The prior CFO, Joseph Lombardi, said in October he was leaving after a nine-year stint, but would stay on for the transition.
Mr. Huseby was executive vice president and chief financial officer of cable company Cablevision Systems Corp. from 2004 to 2011.
Barnes & Noble is dealing with tough competition and changing book-reading habits and has focused on its e-book reader, the Nook, to improve results.
In the fiscal third-quarter its net income fell 14 percent, as rising costs offset a 5 percent revenue increase to $2.44 billion.
Barnes & Noble shares gained 6 cents to $13.45 in morning trading.
MASSACHUSETTS
Japan’s Asahi Kasei to buy Zoll Medical
CHELMSFORD — Japanese chemical manufacturer Asahi Kasei Corp. has agreed to buy Zoll Medical Corp, a Massachusetts-based maker of defibrillators and other critical care medical devices, for about $2.2 billion.
Under the deal announced Monday, Asahi is offering $93 per share for each Zoll share, a 23.8 percent premium over Zoll’s closing price of $75.10 on Friday.
Zoll shares jumped $17.66, or 23.5 percent, to $92.75 in morning trading.
Asahi Kasei is a major Japanese chemical manufacturer with a variety of businesses including health care, construction materials and electronics.
The company said Zoll will help it expand its health care business, an area that Asahi has identified as a key sector of growth. Zoll’s leading position in resuscitation technologies was particularly attractive, Asahi said.
Taketsugu Fujiwara, Asahi Kasei president and representative director, said Zoll will form the cornerstone of Asahi’s critical care business.
• From wire dispatches and staff reports
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