Google, Facebook Sued Over Patent Infringements

Technorati Tag: google,facebook,social network

Legal battles that started with the Nokia vs. Apple had last month reached the Apple vs. HTC standoff. While the latter is still fresh in our minds, here is one more patent infringement suite against the biggies - but filed by a not-so-famous company based in New York. The companies at the receiving end this time are Google and Facebook - both of which are being sued by Wireless Ink Corp. over an invention related to software that lets people join social networks on their mobile phones.
The litigant claims that both Facebook and Google have infringed upon a patent issued to Wireless Ink  that allows people to join social networks from their mobile phones. Wireless Ink runs the Winksite service and claims that Facebook Mobile and Google Buzz infringe a patent issued for it in 2004. The company has filed a complaint in a federal court in Manhattan and is seeking cash compensation and a court order to prevent further use of its invention.
According to Wireless Ink's lawyer, the patent was filed in 2004 and "given the time and resources defendants have invested in their desktop and mobile Web sites as well as their strategic importance, both Google and Facebook had to have known about the patent". Both Google and Facebook use their contact list functionality to create a social network.
Both Google and Facebook are currently in the process of reviewing the complaint.