Trade secrets battle sees iPod and Android creators go head to head

A company backed by iPod co-creator Tony Fadell has sued a smartphone startup founded by Android creator Andy Rubin for alleged trade secrets theft.

The complaint, filed by Keyssa against Essential Products, relates to wireless technology allowing phones to connect with external devices. The connector is described as “smaller than a coffee bean”.

Filed on Monday, October 16 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the complaint said the technology has investors including Samsung and a string of others.

Keyssa alleged that Essential had “recognised the groundbreaking potential” by collaborating with Keyssa to incorporate the technology into its Essential Phone in February 2016.

During this agreement, Keysaa said it supplied Essential with a team of 20 top engineers and scientists as well as material compositions, circuitry and semiconductor architecture.

Keysaa also mentioned several meetings between executives of both companies during the agreement.

This deal came to an end in November, when Essential informed Keyssa it would use the technology of SiBEAM Snap instead.

In September, two months before the end of the agreement, the Essential Phone was released.

Keyssa stated that despite Essential’s use of a rival chip, the final design incorporates many of the techniques developed by Keyssa without fairly compensating the company.

“The facts detailed in this complaint show that the Essential Phone and Essential 360° Camera embody Keyssa’s proprietary wireless technology.”

The complaint stated: “Essential did not incur any of the risk, time, or expense that Keyssa incurred in independently developing its own wireless connectivity solutions. Therefore, Essential should not be permitted to misappropriate Keyssa’s trade secret wireless connector accessory technology in order to unjustly enrich itself.”

Essential stated that it has spent “many tens of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of hours of engineering time” to wirelessly connect devices at speeds as fast as high-speed interfaces such as HDMI or USB.

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