Patent infringement lawsuits have become an ongoing topic for the tech community, and Twitter has avoided a battle by paying off IBM.

In a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Twitter revealed it paid IBM (International Business Machines) $36 million over intellectual property, or patents.

The filing to the SEC stated, "From time to time we receive claims from third parties which allege that we have infringed upon their intellectual property rights. In this regard, we recently received a letter from International Business Machines Corporation, or IBM, alleging that we infringe on at least three U.S. patents held by IBM, and inviting us to negotiate a business resolution of the allegations."

In December 2013, Twitter acquired 900 patents from IBM, which resulted in the former increasing the size of its respective patent portfolio.

As Wired noted, IBM threatened to sue Twitter over three patents in November 2013. The lawsuits by IBM would've come as Twitter was going to go public. In the end, the two companies formed an agreement, and the first patent was confirmed in January.

Twitter revealed it is involved in a "number of intellectual property lawsuits," and the figure could increase due to the company's growing profile and presence in competition. The filing, which was Twitter's 10-K Form, detailed the company's annual financials and noted they own 956 patents. Twitter also has 100 patent applications outstanding.

In 2012, Twitter announced it only uses patents guaranteed to avoid lawsuits and won't sue other companies of infringement. The company created an initiative known as the Innovator's Patent Agreement (IPA). 

"Twitter employees who sign the agreement will be able to ensure that their work is used only for 'defensive purposes' and not in 'offensive litigation' without the permission of all the inventors," wrote Caleb Garling for Wired. "If the company that owns a patent sells the patent to another party, or if an inventor on the patent leaves the company, the entity that ends up with the patents can only use them as the inventor intended."

With the IPA, Twitter could be aiming to help its employees and obstruct efforts by patent trolls, also known as Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs).

The issue of patent trolls have been an ongoing concern for the tech community and recently politicians in Washington D.C.

The White House recognizes an "explosion of abusive litigation" have taken place in recent years by PAEs with the intent to not reward innovation and extract settlements from bigger companies based on questionable statements.

"In the last two years, the number of lawsuits brought by patent trolls has nearly tripled, and account for 62 [percent] of all patent lawsuits in America," wrote Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Gene Sperling. "All told, the victims of patent trolls paid $29 billion in 2011, a 400 [percent] increase from 2005 -- not to mention tens of billions dollars more in lost shareholder value."

As Latin Post reported, Apple Inc. teamed with Google, Cisco, Facebook, Intel, and Yahoo!, among other tech companies, to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to make it easier for technology companies to collect legal fees from patent holders who have lost infringement lawsuits. Apple stated it receives dozens of letters challenging royalties for every case that officially goes to court.

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