Google and two of its executives were sued on Thursday by eBay and its online payment unit, PayPal for stealing trade secrets related to its mobile payment systems.

The two executives, Osama Bedier and Stephanie Tilenius, were formerly with PayPal and led the launch on Thursday of Google's own mobile payment system in partnership with MasterCard, Citigroup and phone company Sprint.

The suit highlights the growing battle by a wide range of companies from traditional finance to Silicon Valley trying to take a major stake in what has been described as a USD1- trillion opportunity in mobile payments. The mobile phone is seen as the digital personal wallet of the future.