Could a legal challenge threaten the launch of Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader?
In a new lawsuit, start-up Spring Design is seeking not only monetary damages from Barnes & Noble, but also is looking to get an injunction barring sales of the Nook, which it says misappropriates its trade secrets.
Spring Design said in a statement Monday that it had filed a lawsuit against Barnes & Noble, but the statement did not specify what damages it was seeking.
However, it turns out that the lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Jose, Calif., seeks both monetary damages as well as a halt to sales of the Nook.
According to the lawsuit, a copy of which was seen by CNET News, Spring Design says it is seeking "preliminary and permanent injunctive relief... restraining and enjoining B&N from use or disclosure of Spring's confidential information or trade secrets, including the sale of the Nook."
The Nook, like Spring Design's Alex, combines a color touch screen with an e-ink display, and both readers use the Android operating system. In its lawsuit, Spring Design says it showed its plans for the Alex to Barnes & Noble, which showed interest in the product and gave no indication it was working on a similar device.
The Nook, a clear and present challenger to Amazon's Kindle, is due to go on sale later this month for $259.
Barnes & Noble has declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying it does not discuss litigation matters.
Court papers filed by Spring Design also include a confidentiality agreement, signed in February, between the company and Barnes & Noble, as well as early Spring Design presentations and e-mails between Barnes & Noble and Spring executives.
As a reminder, here's a look at Spring Design's Alex (left) and Barnes & Noble's Nook (note--the images are not to scale):
(Credit:
Spring Design)
(Credit:
Barnes & Noble)
A Silicon Valley start-up said it sued Barnes & Noble on Monday, claiming that the bookseller misappropriated trade secrets in creating the Nook e-reader.
Cupertino, Calif-based Spring Design said it had a nondisclosure agreement with Barnes & Noble and had been discussing its e-reader plans with the bookseller since early this year.
"Since the beginning of 2009 Spring and Barnes & Noble worked within a non-disclosure agreement, including many meetings, emails and conference calls with executives ranging up to the president of BarnesandNoble.com, discussing confidential information regarding the features, functionality and capabilities of Alex," Spring Design said in a statement. "Throughout, Barnes & Noble's marketing and technical executives extolled Alex's 'innovative' features, never mentioning their use of those features until the public disclosure of the Nook."
The press release from Spring Design did not say in what court the suit was filed, or mention what damages were being sought.
Spring Design announced its Alex e-reader just days before Barnes & Noble formally unveiled the Nook. Both e-readers use the Android operating system and combine an e-ink screen with a color touch screen.
Eric Kmiec, Spring Design's vice president of sales and marketing, said that the company has been working on the Alex since 2006.
"Spring Design unfortunately had to take the appropriate action to protect its intellectual property rights," Kmiec said in a statement. "We showed the Alex e-book design to Barnes & Noble in good faith with the intention of working together to provide a superior dual screen e-book to the market."
A Barnes & Noble representative was not immediately available to comment. (Update, 9:30 a.m. Nov. 3: A Barnes & Noble representative said that the company does not comment on litigation.)
Barnes & Noble's Nook, which competes head-on with Amazon's Kindle, is due to go on sale later this month for $259.
Here's a look at the Alex:
(Credit:
Spring Design)
as compared to the Nook:
(Credit:
Barnes & Noble)
Note: This story originally misstated the day that the lawsuit was filed. It was filed on Monday.
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