Johannesburg, Feb 01 : Twitter has reportedly purchased 900 patents from IBM, entering into a cross-license deal.

The financial terms of the deal haven't been disclosed.

However, Twitter's legal director said that the deal would provide the company with greater intellectual property protection and freedom to innovate, News24 reports.

According to the report, the short messaging service had announced in a November regulatory filing that it received a letter from IBM accusing it of infringing on three of its patents.

Twitter had been asked to take part in settlement negotiations back then, but the company said that it believed it could defend itself against the allegations.

The report said that the recently went public company, Twitter, holds just a handful of patents, while IBM holds more than 41, 000 and received a total of 6, 809 last year. (ANI)