Amazon has backed down after being sued by IBM for building its business on the back of some of its patents.

Initially Amazon said it was prepared to fight the action in court, which, if it lost was going to cost it billions.However, now it seems that the case has been settled out of court and no-one is saying what the outcome has been.

Amazon says that the case will not effect its financial results, and "the payment was reflected in its guidance".  In otherwords a deal has been cut but this does not involve serious money.