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Will the Nook be nixed?
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If Spring Design's lawsuit is successful, the Nook could meet an untimely demise.
The Nook may not have such a bright future after all. Spring Design, a California based company, has filed a lawsuit against Barnes and Noble in relation to the latter’s upcoming Nook ereader. The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in San Jose, CA on Monday, seeks both monetary damages and a halt to Nook sales.
Court documents state that Spring Design shared its design for its upcoming Alex ereader with a Barnes and Noble consultant on February 17 of this year, five days after both companies signed a non-disclosure agreement. On March 20, representatives from Spring Design met with the head of Barnes and Noble’s software development department, Ravi Gopalakrishnan. During the meeting, Mr. Gopalakrishnan allegedly stated that Barnes and Noble wanted a product that would compete with Amazon’s Kindle.
Spring Design alleges that a series of meetings between the two companies were then held in April and May, with several Barnes and Noble executives in attendance. During one of the meetings, representatives from Spring Design allegedly gave a product demonstration and showed a Powerpoint video of its Alex ereader to B&N.com president William Lynch and B&N CFO Kevin Frain. Spring Design alleges that Mr. Frain warned the company to avoid partnering with Amazon for content, due to the concern that Amazon would steal Spring Design’s idea for its ereader.
Spring Design alleges that Barnes and Noble made contact in July, requesting a summary of Spring Design’s product development. Barnes and Noble then held a meeting with Spring Design’s CEO on October 1 in order to discuss the possibility of revenue sharing for the Alex in the university textbook market. In its court filing, Spring Design alleges that Barnes and Noble “made no mention during that meeting or any other meeting with Spring that it was actually in the process of developing a device with many of the product features contained in the Spring design.”
Barnes and Noble announced the upcoming release of its Nook ereader on October 20, one day after Spring Design announced the release of the Alex. Spring Design alleges that Barnes and Noble’s announcement was a “complete surprise” to the company.
Both ereaders feature E Ink screens paired with LCD touch screens, and both run on variations of Google’s Android 1.5 platform. Spring Design has accused Barnes and Noble of breaching the non-disclosure agreement, misappropriating trade secrets, and violating unfair competition laws. Spring Design wants Nook production to cease and monetary damages. Barnes and Noble, which has previously stated that the Nook was a success due to its strong preorder sales figures, has stated that it is the company’s policy to refrain from commenting on matters of litigation.
What say you, faithful readers? Do you believe Spring Design has a valid case, or do you think Barnes and Noble came up with the Nook’s design on its own? Do you think Nook production will be halted, or do you think Barnes and Noble will be forced to modify the Nook’s design? Please feel free to discuss.
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