IBM seeks $167 million from Groupon in dispute over early internet patents.

FILE PHOTO: The logo for IBM is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., June 27, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp on Monday asked a U.S. jury to award it $167 million in a lawsuit accusing e-commerce marketplace operator Groupon Inc of using patented technology without authorization.

IBM lawyer John Desmarais told a jury in federal court in Delaware that Groupon infringed patents describing foundational e-commerce technology that had already been licensed to Amazon Inc, Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google for between $20 million and $50 million per company.

"Most big companies have taken licenses to these patents," Desmarais said. "Groupon has not. The new kid on the block refuses to take responsibility for using these inventions."

Groupon lawyer J. David Hadden argued that IBM was overreading the scope of its patents and claiming ownership of building blocks of the internet.

By Jan Wolfe.

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