Google, Facebook sued on mobile notworking

Buzz off

Google and Facebook have been sued in New York  by a company claiming to own software patents that put social networks on mobile phones.

Bloomberg reports that Wireless Ink Corp., which runs a mobile notworking service called Winksite, has complained that Facebook Mobile and Google's clumsily-implemented Buzz thing both infringe a patent issued in October, but filed back in 2004.

Wireless Ink filed a complaint yesterday in a federal court in Manhattan, seeking compensation in bags of dollars and an injunction.

The firm says the pair of defendants must have been aware of the patent, "given the time and resources [they] have invested in their desktop and mobile Web sites as well as their strategic importance."

Google said it is considering the complaint and will comment when it comes up with a decent argument.