Seriously???
Surely this has to be something that is obvious isn't it? Hardly an innovative idea! Doing intercarrier messaging has really been done for ages. Just look at the likes of Microsoft and Yahoo partnering up and using only an email address as the identifier for pairing MSN Messenger users with their Yahoo Messenger friends. Or perhaps other IM programs that tied all of these different services together and within the program selected which carrier to use?
I swear that if this goes any further than the first hearing where the judge tells them to sit down and shut up, then I am hanging up my software development hat forever because obviously nothing can be built without someone having a patent on it and having them turn around and sue you.