Twitter a 'Cheep' Knockoff?

Image via CrunchBase

Three months after garnering a Webby Award as "Breakout of the Year," Twitter, Inc., the San Francisco-based social networking and micro-blogging behemoth, finds itself on the wrong end of a patent infringement suit.

TechRadius, Inc. of Sugarland, Texas, sued Twitter, Inc., in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston, alleging that Twitter has infringed on its patented IRIS (Immediate Response Information System) technology. According to the Complaint, TechRadius sells, develops and services mass notification systems that enable a "message author" to originate a message that simultaneously can be delivered via communications gateways to "message subscribers."

TechRadius' Complaint includes a jury demand. Ideally, the jury will be drawn from a pool of 140 characters. The factfinders will have to determine whether Twitter is a victim of a plaintiff looking to cash in on Twitter's success or whether it engaged in devious behavior and is flourishing at the expense of others' genius.

Schtick or Tweet?