Wireless
Wireless Ink Corp., which runs the Winksite service, claims that Facebook Mobile and Google Buzz are infringing a patent issued in October. In a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Manhattan, the company is seeking cash compensation and a court order to prevent further use of its invention.
The patent is related to ways of offering content that is accessible by mobile devices, Wireless Ink lawyer Jeremy Pitcock said in an interview. The closely held software maker develops Web sites that can be made available over wireless devices and has more than 75,000 registered users, he said.
With the application filed in 2004, Google and Facebook had to have known of the patent, “given the time and resources defendants have invested in their desktop and mobile Web sites as well as their strategic importance,” Wireless Ink, based in East Islip, New York, said in the complaint.
Andrew Pederson, a spokesman for Mountain View, California- based Google, said yesterday that the company is reviewing the complaint and had no immediate comment. Google Buzz creates a social-network service based on contacts in Gmail user accounts.
Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said the company is reviewing the complaint. Facebook, based in Palo Alto, California, is the largest social-networking site.
The case is Wireless Ink Corp. v. Facebook Inc., 10-cv-01841, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).