Discovery Communications, the company that brings you the channel that brings you an entire week devoted to sharks, is now entering brave new territory--the tech lawsuit. The company announced yesterday that it is suing Amazon.com because of copyright infringement by the Kindle and Kindle 2.

Wrote Discovery in a statement issued yesterday:

Discovery Communications alleges that Amazon's sale of the Kindle and Kindle 2 products and its electronic book delivery system infringe U.S. Patent Number 7,298,851, "Electronic Book Security and Copyright Protection System." A copy of the filing can be found at Discovery's Web site.

"The Kindle and Kindle 2 are important and popular content delivery systems," Discovery's general counsel, Joseph A. LaSala Jr. added succinctly, "We believe they infringe our intellectual property rights, and that we are entitled to fair compensation. Legal action is not something Discovery takes lightly. Our tradition as an inventive company has produced considerable intellectual property assets for our shareholders, and today's infringement litigation is part of our effort to protect and defend those assets."