A Texas-based company called TechRadium filed suit against Twitter Tuesday, August 4, 2009, in the Southern District of Texas, alleging patent infringement.  TechRadium is a technology company that makes mass notification systems which provide a platform where one message can be sent to multiple recipients over various types of devices.

The complaint alleges that Twitter infringes on three TechRadium patents: 7,130,389 (issued October 31, 2006), 7,496,183 (issued February 4, 2009), and 7,519,165 (issued April 14, 2009).  TechRadium is not just looking for a payout here, but has requested punitive damages and a permanent injunction.  Effectively, TechRadium wants to shut Twitter down and clean them out.

This lawsuit probably does not come as a surprise to Twitter.  Actually, in some ways it was expected by the company, although the plaintiff may have been the unknown variable.  Mistakenly leaked internal Twitter documents from a February 2009 strategy meeting were posted last month by TechCrunch.com, in which the expectation of legal action were discussed.  Specifically, the documents reveal that Twitter expected to be “sued for patent infringement, repeatedly and often.”  The same memo queried “should we get a great patent attorney to proactively go after these patents?”  I hope they followed up on that question!

This will be one to watch . . . and tweet about while we can.

August 18, 2009 - Update: Free outside counsel scouring TechRadium patents to aid Twitter in legal battle, read more here.

The legal battle continues, and it just got more interesting!

The TiVo patent at the center of this controversy is currently embroiled in reexamination proceedings with the USPTO.  Monday, August 3, 2009, the USPTO rejected two of the patent claims in the TiVo patent in a preliminary finding of invalidity.  The rejected claims, claims 31 and 61, cover the features that allow TV shows to be stored and played back.

This could be the break EchoStar needs to swing the legal proceedings in it’s favor, and at the least bolster their arguments on appeal.  In response to the USPTO action, however, TiVo issued a press release today, which stated: “This is an initial step in the lengthy process known as ‘reexamination,’ and it is not unusual for the PTO to provide a preliminary finding of invalidity and to then later find that the claims are valid after hearing an explanation from the patent owner.”

The saga continues . . .

A patent application filed at the beginning of this year was published today, allowing us a look into the inventive mind of Susan Harsh.  Titled Dog Nose Art, this application claims the process of turning a smudge on a surface, left by a dog’s nose, into a work of art.  Seriously.  The claims are strangely narrow, causing one to question whether the prior art in this field has already disclosed transforming the smudges left by other mammal’s noses into art.

A company called VoloMedia announced yesterday that they have been awarded a U.S. Patent for podcasting.  The referenced patent was issued on July 28, 2009, and is titled Method for Providing Episodic Media Content.

In the press release, VoloMedia explains that although today’s podcasting is currently 100% RSS-based, their newly awarded patent covers all episodic media downloads, covering endless potential technological advances in the future for episodic media content.  While they claim a desire to continue to work collaboratively with key participants in the industry, the press release carries an undercurrent of warning to uncooperative players.  Specifically the wording “we would expect new entrants into the podcasting arena to have a collaborative relationship with VoloMedia.”   Watch out Hulu, they specifically pinpoint you as a possible future infringer!

In addition, the press release mentions this is just a first in a series of expected patents VoloMedia anticipates in their issuance pipeline.  It will be interesting to see what comes out next.

Microsoft managed to land a patent grant for emotiflags this past week despite well-known prior usage.  The IP team member at Microsoft who received the Notice of Allowance sent a blast email including a  :)

Lotus notes users, however, responded to the news with a  :(

Although it sounds like a parody of the likes of Despair.com, this patent news is actually a real occurrence.  One can’t be sure what the USTPO was emoting at the time of allowance.

Read more here.