Skull

Web portal Lycos has filed a lawsuit against Overture Services on the grounds that the search provider violated the provisions of a commercial search contract between them when it agreed to be acquired by Yahoo.

Waltham, Mass.-based Lycos filed suit against Overture on Oct. 16 in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. The suit charges that Overture, a provider of sponsored search results, willfully disregarded its contractual obligation to obtain consent from Lycos before it would share confidential information about its business with third parties. Pasadena, Calif.-based Overture, now owned by Yahoo, was also obliged to obtain consent before being acquired by any Lycos rival, according to the complaint.

"Yahoo is a 'Lycos Competitor' as defined in the Agreement. Overture did not seek or obtain Lycos's consent prior to Overture's assignment of the agreement to Yahoo...Overture's assignment absent Lycos's consent is breach of the agreement," according to the filing.

Cnet