Both are suing over alleged infringement of intellectual property rights having to do with look-a-likes. Apple claims the new Galaxy tablet is a mimic and that Samsung “copied the look, product design, packaging and user interface of [Apple's iPhone and iPad] products.” Kim Kardashian asserts that Old Navy used a model as her stand-in for the retailer’s latest advertising commercial because the woman featured in the ad looks like her.

Apple has the power and punch of a patent and trademark portfolio to back up its claim against Samsung over the design of the Galaxy tablet. In her suit against Old Navy, Ms. Kardashian is relying on the weight of her Twitter and Facebook following to substantiate her celebrity and claims of IP rights stemming from her visage and persona.

While Apple’s suit could have implications for the smartphone and tablet device marketplace, Ms. Kardashian’s suit could affect the marketplace for those persons unfortunate enough to possess similar features as that of a celebrity. Perhaps the model, Melissa Molinaro, used in the Old Navy commercials should counter-sue for loss of future earnings due to Ms. Kardashian’s monopoly of physical features. Just a thought.

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.