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.

Breaking report from ZatzNotFunny! reveals the recent filing by TiVo seeking $1 billion in contempt sanctions from DISH/EchoStar in the patent dispute involving DVR technology.  Last fall, EchoStar announced they were finally going to pay up the $104 million jury award to TiVo since the Supreme Court denied their petition for certiorari.  The contempt sanctions now sought stem from the injunction granted against EchoStar and the infringing DVRs.  Think EchoStar wants to hit rewind?

Why shop around for a lawyer when they will come to you? Forget flipping through the yellow pages! Just list your case on the new SueEasy website, and before long, lawyers will be calling you, just begging to take your case. Frivolous lawsuits just got easier – SueEasy in fact.

Read more here

A Nebraska State Senator has sued God, blaming God for terrorist attacks and seeking an injunction against God for future threats. The defendant (that would be God) filed his response yesterday with a bolt of lightning . . . okay, no actual lightning was reported. But a response was found on the county clerk’s desk, signed by God himself! And get this – apparently God resides in Corpus Christi, TX! I knew Texas was the promised land, but of all the cities . . . really God?

To read about the lawsuit click here

To learn more about God’s response click here