Facebook acquired 750 patents from International Business Machines Corp. in a deal that will help it counter Yahoo's patent lawsuit against the social networking giant.

The patents acquired by Facebook cover such technologies as software and networking according to a source, Bloomberg reported. The acquisition will swell Facebook's patents from its current 56 issued patents and 503 filed U.S. patent applications. The move will place Facebook in a great position against Yahoo Inc. who is suing the social network over patent infringements. Yahoo filed a suit against Facebook over patents covering Internet privacy, advertising and information sharing. The California-based Yahoo is seeking triple damages against Facebook.

Facebook, the world's biggest social networking is looking for more patents for its portfolio as it shores its defenses against a lawsuit war with its rivals. Facebook has been acquiring patents from other companies including social-networking site Friendster and Hewlett-Packard Co. Yahoo, Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. all have 1000 patents in their portfolios.

Facebook filed for an initial public offering last month and announced that it had set up a new credit line of $5 billion for working capital and other general corporate purposes. The funds will also cover the potential legal costs of a patent litigation with Yahoo and other patent lawsuits in the future.

"We expect the number of patent and other intellectual property claims against us to grow," the company said in the February document related to its IPO filing. "We may introduce new products, including in areas where we currently do not compete, which could increase our exposure to patent and other intellectual property claims."

Facebook is ranked 28 on the list of companies most frequently targeted in patent cases according to LegalMetric.com. Acquired patents made up $51 million of Facebook's intangible assets in 2011.