Earlier this morning we discovered that kik was hit with a lawsuit by RIM. In my opinion the main question wasn’t why they were being sued, more so how they were going to be sued. I’m not a licensed lawyer yet, but after taking some legal courses along the way in preparation, I proposed how Research In Motion can legally go after kik . I believe the principles stated in my post match with the official Statement of Claims that was made public a few moments ago. For full details on RIM vs. Kik head here to download the pdf. Kik’s CEO Ted Livingston, who was employed by RIM has publicly addressed the issue as well. Click here to read Kik’s blog post.
The Legal Environment in Business course that I am currently enrolled in has come at the perfect time. I am going to take a stab at the kik issue that has surfaced on the CB blog earlier disclosing that Research In Motion, makers of BlackBerry are suing kik applying real legal principles.
The suit was filed yesterday by the attorneys that represent RIM in Canada under Docket T-1996-10. We’ll leave Canadian law for Canadians to interpret, given I have no legal knowledge of Canada’s Private or Public legal system. As for the United States, they have yet to file, but in case they do, let’s examine what exactly Research In Motion can legally go after kik for.
Number 1) Lets Start with the docket. In the docket, the initial entry summary is Patent Infringement. Ok, right off the bat we notice it involves Tort law in the US. It is possible, RIM can sue kik under Tort law Appropriation. The use of a person’s name or likeness without permission. In order to be accused of patent infringement, a party must be acting without a license. It is apparent kik has not obtained a licence for the patent. Under intellectual property, my favorite area of law, the patent owner may grant exclusive or non-exclusive licenses to others to enable them to make,use, or sell the patented product, process, or design. The patent owner typically will be paid a royalty on all sales of goods manufactured or sold pursuant to the license. So in sum, if true, kik would be able to operate on BlackBerry smartphones if they obtained a licence from RIM. The ultimate decision would rely on RIM, which doesn’t look like they are headed in that direction. Money doesn’t seem like an issue here, its more ethically wrong. I could be wrong, a license fee could change things, time will tell.
Number 2) If we look at RIM’s official statement made on the November 12th cancellation of kik to the App World, it says, “Upon further investigation, RIM concluded that Kik had breached contractual obligations. Based on the broad scope and seriousness of the issues and concerns, RIM terminated its agreements with Kik and withdrew RIM’s support for Kik’s service.” That my friends, is good ol’ US Contract Law. Not only has kik participated in the act of patent infringement, they are also under accusations of breaching contractual obligations. Now I do not know the exact terms of the contract, or what is stated in the contract, but I do know how contracts are performed and executed. It was factually discovered that the CEO and makers of kik are former employees of Research In Motion. If true, there are certain Trade Secret regulations that must be followed under Employment Law.
So there are rules and stipulations once an employee is terminated or released from duties of the acquired position. Such as should take absolutely no company data or property with him or her. • Should convey no memorized or other data to his or her new employer • Should comply with all agreements executed with his or her former employer.
MUTSA has a full range of available remedies.The Act allows for injunctions against‘‘actual’’ or even ‘‘threatened’’ use (critical at the preliminary injunction stage), mandatory (affirmative) injunctions to protect secrets, imposition of royalty obligations, actual damages, unjust enrichment damages, and attorneys fees for willful or malicious misappropriation or bad faith pursuit or defense of a claim.
Well there you have it folks. If I was an attorney for RIM here in the United States, I would go after kik under Tort law violating Intellectual property, Misappropriation, Trade Secret violation, and Breach of Contract.
If you have no idea what the hell kik is, it’s a cross-platform (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry) instant messenger app that is similar to BlackBerry Messenger. It features real time messages, with active delivery Sent and Read confirmation. Within its first week of launching, it quickly topped 2 million users, catching the attention of many including RIM executives.
Are you going to miss kik on your BB? What do you think? We’d appreciate your feedback. Don’t forget to share and like on Facebook
For more on Trade Secret and Employment Law in the US click here