November 3rd, 2009
Spring Design sues Barnes & Noble over Alex, Nook
Spring Design, which released its Alex e-reader last month, has filed a lawsuit against Barnes & Noble for misappropriating trade secrets and violating a non-disclosure agreement surrounding Alex technologies that were used to create the Nook, which was offered by Barnes and Noble days later.
In a press release issued by Spring Design, the company said that it began filing patents for Alex as early as 2006 and began holding meetings, conference calls and e-mails with B&N executives in early 2009. Under a non-disclosure agreement, the two companies discussed confidential information, including Alex’s “innovative features” the company said. In a statement, Eric Kmeic, VP of Sales and Marketing, said:
Spring Design unfortunately had to take the appropriate action to protect its intellectual property rights. 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.
CNET reported that Barnes & Noble officials were not immediately available for comment. Spring Design said in its release that it wants to resolve the matter so that “we can move forward to together” to grow the e-book market.
The company’s press release made no mention of damages sought in the suit.
Sam Diaz is a senior editor at ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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