Twitter's microblogging service breaches the patents of a Texas-based technology company, which is demanding unspecified damages and licensing fees, according to a federal lawsuit.

TechRadium, of Sugar Land, claims it has patents to what it calls the "mass notification" concept. According to the complaint, tweeting infringes on its "systems and methods" of three patents.

TechRadium has paying clients and the patents for what it calls IRIS – the Immediate Response Information System – which "simultaneously delivers uniform, reliable and verifiable emergency messages to an unlimited number of contacts within seconds, across all means and devices of communication."

Its clients include the military, schools, government, utilities and others, according to its website.

"To the fullest extent permitted by law, plaintiff seeks recovery of damages for lost profits, reasonable royalties, unjust enrichment, and benefits received by the defendant as a result of use (sic) the misappropriated technology, and any other damages to which it may be entitled in law or in equity," Tuesday'slawsuit (.pdf) says.

Twitter did not immediately respond for comment.

San Francisco-based Twitter clearly is concerned that it might be the subject of patent infringement lawsuits, according to internal Twitter documents disclosed by TechCrunch last month.

One document with "Legal" on top said, "We will be sued for patent infringement, repeatedly and often." The document also said, "Should we get a great patent attorney to proactively go after these patents (We need to talk about this more, we are unsatisfied)."

There are several routes this litigation could go. Among them, Twitter could settle, claim its protocol does not infringe or challenge the validity of the patents.

If it sounds far-fetched that the tweeting method might infringe a patent, we'll remind you that human genes are patented.

George Borkowski, chairman of the intellectual property practice at Venable LLP in Los Angeles, said Twitter is likely to claim that the patents should be voided because what has been patented is too generic.

"If this case moves forward, obviously what Twitter is going to do is argue that the patents are not valid and that the Patent Office should not have granted them," Borkowski said.

Still, he added: "There is a presumption of validity when a patent is issued."

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