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 |  Nov-04-2009Lawsuit Would Pull B&N Nook E-Reader From Market(topic overview)
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Ereader solutions and products developer Spring Design has filed a lawsuit asserting bookseller giant Barnes & Noble misappropriated trade secrets and violated the firms' non-disclosure agreement in developing its forthcoming Android-powered nook ereader device. According to Spring Design, it began developing and filing patents on its own Android-based ereader, dubbed Alex, in 2006--in the spring of 2009, the company inked an NDA with Barnes & Noble, discussing confidential information regarding the device's features, functionality and capabilities across the span of multiple meetings, conference calls and emails. Spring Design claims B&N never mentioned plans to incorporate Alex's features into the nook until its public announcement of the device. "Spring Design unfortunately had to take the appropriate action to protect its intellectual property rights," said the company's vice president of sales and marketing Eric Kmiec in a prepared statement. [1] We wanted to lay claim to the dual screen design,''' says Eric Kmiec, Spring'''s VP of Sales and Marketing. The company decided to do more than lay claim; they filed a lawsuit in Federal court according to its press release '''to protect its Alex''' e-book intellectual property. The lawsuit asserts Barnes & Noble misappropriated trade secrets and violated the parties' nondisclosure agreement when it copied Alex's features into its recently announced Nook e-book.''' What happened? It would appear that Barnes & Noble was in such a hurry to get a device on the market before the 2009 holidays that they found a Taiwanese manufacturer to create something similar faster. For publishers who'''ve had experience with B&N'''s heavy-handed ways, this would be no surprise.[2]
NEW YORK — Technology company Spring Design said Tuesday it filed a lawsuit against Barnes & Noble alleging it misappropriated trade secrets and violated a nondisclosure agreement when it launched its electronic reader Nook last month. Spring Design said Nook's features are too close to its Alex e-reader. Both devices feature two screens and run on Google's Android operating system.[3] Spring Design today filed a lawsuit to protect its Alex™ e-book intellectual property. The lawsuit asserts Barnes & Noble misappropriated trade secrets and violated the parties' non-disclosure agreement when it copied Alex' features into its recently announced Nook e-book. Apparently, Spring Design showed Barnes and Noble the e-reader and Barnes and Noble went ahead and released their own. Spring Design first developed and began filing patents on its Alex e-book, an innovative dual screen, Android-based e-book back in 2006.[4] The e-book readers seem to share a number of design features that Spring Design reckons were hijacked from the design work on the Alex and misappropriated by Barnes & Noble in the Nook. Both e-readers have dual screen designs, are based on Android 1.6 and allow for WiFi and 3G Internet browsing. The only material differences are the user interface and how information is shared between both screens. This wouldn't be an issue if Barnes & Noble hadn't signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement and Spring Design hadn't shown it the e-book design at meetings and discussed development of the device over several calls. It wasn't until Barnes & Noble sprang the Nook that Spring Design felt it had been had. While the argument seems to hold water, the only problem for Spring Design is that its Alex device hasn't yet actually materialized and it is sitting on a pile of patent applications.[5] Spring Design, a small IT startup, claims that Barnes & Noble's Nook infringes on their own Alex e-reader. Both devices claim a dual-screen form-factor, powered by Google Android. The e-reader space has become more competitive in the past few months, with not only Barnes & Noble but a host of smaller startups announcing their own devices, all of them hoping to take market share away from Amazon.com and its line of Kindle e-readers. What's the difference between two e-reader models, produced by separate companies, that both include dual screens and a Google Android operating system? According to Spring Design, which unveiled its Alex e-reader with just such a form-factor on Oct. 19, not much'which is why it plans on suing Barnes & Noble over the latter's own device, the Nook, that also runs on Android and features two displays. "Spring Design unfortunately had to take appropriate action to protect its intellectual property rights," Eric Kmiec, Spring Design's vice president of sales and marketing, said in a Nov. 2 statement.[6] "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," said Eric Kmiec, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, in a statement. The company says it first began filing patents on its dual-screen eReader in 2006 and, since the beginning of this year, there had been "many meetings, emails and conference calls with executives ranging up to the president of Barnes and Noble.com, discussing confidential information regarding the features, functionality and capabilities of Alex." "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." We tried to get Barnes & Noble's side of the story on this, but a spokeswoman said the company did not comment on litigation. Both the Nook and Alex run on the Android operating system. The Nook is due to go on sale later this month, while Spring Design says the Alex is expected to appear before the end of the year. Aside from their legal complications, they are entering an increasingly crowded eReader market where a lot is at stake. According to Forrester Research, eReaders will be a "breakout success" this holiday season. Its latest projections are for 3m units to be sold this year, with 900,000 units selling during November and December. It expects sales next year to double, bringing cumulative sales to 10m by the end of 2010.[7]
The Nook announcement overshadowed that of a competitor called Alex, from Spring Design, a little-known Silicon Valley company. When Spring Design announced Alex, tech site Engadget dismissed it as a "desperate" also-ran that, like Nook, features a combination six-inch e-ink screen and three-inch LCD screen, has Wi-Fi capability, and uses Google's Android as its operating system. Spring Design says Nook, not Alex, is the copy-cat -- and it's suing Barnes & Noble for violating non-disclosure agreements and misappropriating trade secrets. Spring Design last month alleged that it discussed the Alex's features and capabilities with Barnes & Noble early this year.[8] The lawsuit was filed late Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Spring Design, which unveiled its Alex e-reader Oct. 19, the day before Barnes & Noble introduced the Nook, claims the retailer used features from the Alex that the companies discussed in many meetings, conference calls, and e-mails starting early this year. In using those features, Barnes & Noble "misappropriated trade secrets and violated the parties' non-disclosure agreement," Spring Design said in a statement.[9] Somehow a lawsuit had to be lurking. Barnes & Noble ( NYSE: BKS ), which took a spin on the floor with just about everyone before announcing its own e-reader, is being sued by Spring Design for misappropriation of trade secrets and violating a non-disclosure agreement. Cupertino-based Spring claims B&N "copied" features from its dual-screen Alex into the Nook.[10]
It's not going to be plain sailing for Barnes Noble in the run up to the release of its Nook e-reader device as it is facing a lawsuit from Spring Design for copying features and violating an NDA. You may remeber last month Spring Design announced its Alex e-reader which had dual screens. That was closely followed by B&N announcing its own dual screen device called Nook. What we didn't know until now was that both companies were working together at the beginning of 2009 under a non-disclosure agreement.[11] SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Spring Design, a maker of electronic readers, is suing Barnes & Noble Inc (BKS.N: Quote, Profile, Research ), claiming the bookseller's newly launched Nook reader illegally copied its dual-screen design after the two discussed a possible partnership. Spring Design said Barnes & Noble used its proprietary design to better compete with Amazon.com's market-leading (AMZN.O: Quote, Profile, Research ) Kindle, while failing to disclose its intentions to make its own device. In a lawsuit filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, Spring Design said it had shared the design of its Alex eReader with Barnes & Noble under protection of a nondisclosure agreement, hoping to strike a deal to bring a device to market. According to Spring Design, Barnes & Noble praised the features of the Alex eReader, but did not say that it intended to use them until it publicly unveiled its Nook eReader last month. Spring Design said on Tuesday that it expects to launch its Alex reader in January.[12] The two companies had originally worked together on a "Kindle killer", an ebook reader that could compete with Amazon's device. Spring Design alleges that Barnes & Noble failed to disclose that it was also working on its own ebook product, and claims that it "misappropriated trade secrets" and violated the parties' non-disclosure agreement "when it copied Alex features in to its recently announced Nook ebook reader".[13] Spring Design is suing Barnes & Noble for allegedly stealing its e-book reader designs. The Cupertino-based company announced its own dual-screen viewer, the Alex, in October, but claims that since the beginning of the year it's been in conversation with Barnes & Noble under a mutual non-disclosure agreement, during which time, it claims, the publisher nicked the design for its own Nook product.[14] Where's the demand? Readers of books, physical or virtual, are hardly a growth market ; the audience for literary works has long been declining, at an accelerating pace in recent decades. Even more ridiculous than the profusion of e-book readers is a lawsuit filed by a Silicon Valley startup over one of them. Spring Design, a Cupertino, Calif. -based company, is suing Barnes & Noble over its Nook device. Both the Nook and Spring Design's hastily introduced Alex have dual screens, and Spring claims that Barnes & Noble "misappropriated" its design after the companies met in the spring of this year. Even if Spring proves its allegations, so what? Being a pioneer in the e-book market strikes me as a poor prize indeed.[15] You don'''t have to be John Grisham to write what happens next'''a lawsuit. Spring Design has decided that the Barnes & Noble Nook (on the right) looks just a little bit too much like their Alex (on the left), an Android based dual screen Ebook Reader, especially as according to Spring they have had the key concepts patented for a while and have been spending the better part of the year trying to flog the Alex to B&N. Personally I think there are plenty of differences between the two projects, but if Spring really had been spilling their guts (and secrets) in Barnes and Noble conferences rooms'''then yeah, Spring has a case.[16] We're used to copyright and industrial espionage claims being more like cases of trademark squatting these days, so to find something ostensibly as straightforward as Barnes and Noble's alleged “copying” of Spring Design's Alex concept is almost refreshing. ''The startup claims B&N led them to believe that they were interested in producing the Alex dual-display Android ebook reader, before breaking off contact and then, shortly after, announcing the nook. ''Now Spring Design has shared their NDA agreements and details of the lawsuit with Engadget.[17]
Spring Design says it started filing patents on Alex in 2006; the patent on Duet Navigator is pending. Starting on Feb. 12, 2009, spring 2009 (the lawsuit contradicts the press release), Spring says it worked with B&N under an NDA. We haven't seen the lawsuit yet but the press release claims that through meetings, e-mails and calls, "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." When Alex was announced literally on the eve of the Nook, Engadget raised the idea that a lawsuit wouldn't be far off: "Judging by the hastily prepared web site coincidentally appearing on the eve of the B&N device launch, and the domain's registrar, Albert Teng, who has numerous patent applications (not patents granted) covering 'electronic devices having complementary dual-displays,' we'd say this announcement is quite possibly a desperate attempt to lay claim on intellectual property rights instead of a real product with real manufacturers and real content partners.[10] At the launch event for Barnes & Noble '''s (BKS) new Nook reading device, the company made an aggressive effort to pretend the Kindle didn'''t exist. Their claim was that B&N is the leading innovator in publishing, not Amazon (AMZN). That'''s certainly true in terms of bookselling, but that hid the truth: B&N is scared by the success of the Kindle. Spring Design, a California e-reader company, says B&N was hiding the truth about something else'''where they got the idea for the Nook'''s color-screen Android interface. Spring has developed an e-reader with patents pending on its innovative dual screen design called the Alex.[2] The Nook, like Alex, combines a color touch-screen with an e-ink display. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Monday afternoon, states that the Spring Design first presented their design for the eReader Alex on Feb. 17, 2009, to a Barnes and Noble'''s consultant, five days after both parties signed non-disclosure document. On March 20, Spring Design executives met with the Head of B&N software development, Ravi Gopalakrishnan, who allegedly told them that B&N wants to develop a product that will efficiently compete with the Amazon'''s (NSQD: AMZN) Kindle. In April and May, they also met with other B&N executives, including William Lynch, president of B&N.com and Kevin Frain, B&N'''S CFO. Frain and lynch were given a PowerPoint presentation and demo for an Android-based e-Reader known as Alex. "Lynch warned Spring's Albert Teng that he should not consider Amazon as a content partner, because Amazon was likely to steal Spring's unique idea without ever buying anything from Spring," according to court documents.[18]
Twitter Gets Dedicated Device Wall Street Journal It's safe(ish) to assume that you've developed a truly killer app once device makers start making products dedicated solely to supporting your service. Even though it was at Twitter's urging, a company named Peek has developed just such a device. Barnes & Noble Has E-Reader Hiccup eweek It looks like Amazon and its Kindle e-reader can count on monopolizing the digital book market for at least a little while longer. IT startup Spring Design is claiming that Barnes & Noble's forthcoming e-reader Nook infringes on its own. Gawker Launches TV Business Insider Gawker has long been an admirer of juicy video clips, but on Tuesday it made its devotion official with the launch of Gawker TV. Company head Nick Denton often attributes traffic peaks to the popularity of various video posts --. Best Buy Makes Digital Leap NYTimes Bits Blog Best Buy, a top seller of DVDs, is not ignoring their likely extinction. It's expected to announce a partnership with Sonic Solutions' Roxio CinemaNow service, which will allow it to stream first-run DVDs directly to consumers online.[19]
"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," said Spring Design vice president Eric Kmiec. A couple of weeks ago, Barnes & Noble introduced its own dual-screen, Android-based e-book reader, dubbed the Nook. Rumors about the Nook were circulating before the announcement, and a Spring spokesperson told iTWire that her company was "frankly surprised" by the rumors of such a similar device.[20] 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." Spring Design said that B&N'''s eReader the Nook has features that are too close to its eReader Alex'''s. The devices in question will run on Google Inc'''s. (GOOG.O) Android operating system and both features two screens.[18] Back on October 19th, a company called Spring Design introduced an e-reader called Alex. It had two significant features in common with Barnes & Noble???s Nook, which was introduced a day later : Both sport a large monochrome e-ink screen and a smaller touch-sensitive color display below, and both run Google'''s Android OS. "Spring Design first developed and began filing patents on its Alex e-book, an innovative dual screen, Android-based e-book back in 2006.[21]
Executives from Spring Design and Barnes and Noble had many meetings throughout 2009 and Barnes and Noble signed a non-disclosure agreement regarding the Alex e-reader, Spring Design said. "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," according to Spring Design. "It is our desire to resolve this matter so that we can move forward together to expand and grow this e-book market with enriched user experience, bringing readers to a new level of reading enjoyment," Kmiec said.[22] Spring Design claims it had "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", throughout which "marketing and technical executives extolled Alex'''s 'innovative' features, never mentioning their use of those features until the public disclosure of the Nook". Spring isn't the only e-book reader manufacturer with whose affections Barnes & Noble have apparently been toying: Plastic Logic announced it would be putting its QUE reader into Barnes & Noble shops a while back, and denied all knowledge when the first rumours of the Nook's colour capabilities were circulated, so clearly had no knowledge that its partner was planning to become its competition. It seems likely that all the readers will support EPub, along with Adobe's Digital Editions DRM, so it's possible for Barnes & Noble to support them all with content, and the chain has enough shelf space to accommodate a range of readers.[14] "As a matter of company policy, Barnes & Noble does not comment on litigation," a Barnes & Noble spokeswoman said Tuesday in an e-mail to InformationWeek. Spring Design claims that during its NDA-covered communications with Barnes & Noble, the bookseller's marketing and technical executives "extolled Alex's 'innovative' features, never mentioning their use of those features until the public disclosure of the Nook."[9]
The lawsuit deals with broken trade secrets, as Spring Design claims to have shown the Alex to Barnes & Noble under NDA before the Nook was even conceived at the beginning of 2009. Both devices feature a large e-ink display on top and capacitive touchscreen LCD at the bottom. That's about it. We hasten to add that the nature of these touch screens is entirely different, since the Alex's is used for web browsing, and the Nook's is merely for navigation. Either way, it's now up to the courts to decide where to draw the line, and how far Barnes & Noble have over-stepped it, if at all.[23] We knew something was up with the Spring Design Alex dual-screen ebook reader the instant we saw its hastily-prepared web site published the night before Barnes & Noble's Nook launch, and it appears that our hunch was right: Spring Design just filed a trade secret lawsuit against B&N, alleging that their designers showed the Alex to the bookseller's execs before the Nook was developed.[24] Spring Design, developers of a dual-screen e-book reader called Alex, has filed suit against Barnes & Noble, alleging that B&N's new Nook reader uses Spring's trade secrets and violates the companies' non-disclosure agreement.[20] A Silicon Valley start-up says it has sued Barnes & Noble, claiming that the bookseller misappropriated trade secrets in creating the Nook e-reader. CNET News reports that Spring Design said it had a non-disclosure agreement with Barnes & Noble and had been discussing its e-reader plans with the bookseller since early this year.[25] A small start-up has picked on the might of number two book king Barnes and Noble claiming that the bookseller misappropriated trade secrets in creating the Nook e-reader. 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.[26]
Spring Design, which recently released its Android-based Alex e-reader, has sued Barnes & Noble over the Nook e-reader, claiming B&N "misappropriated trade secrets" and "violated a non-disclosure agreement surrounding Alex technologies."[27] Barnes & Noble hasn't commented on the suit. The similarities between the Nook and the Alex only go so far -- the Alex allows web browsing, while the Nook's touchscreen is for navigation purposes only, with content limited to the e-Ink screen. If Spring Design's lawyers can prove that B&N violated its non-disclosure agreement, the splash of the Nook's introduction -- and its future as a Kindle-killer -- seem less of a sure thing.[8]
"We showed the Alex eBook design to Barnes & Noble in good faith with the intention of working together to provide a superior dual screen eBook to the market," said Eric Kmiec, vice president of sales and marketing at Spring Design. Spring Design first developed and began filing patents on its Alex eBook, an innovative dual screen, Android-based eBook back in 2006. Since the beginning of 2009, Spring Design and B&N worked within an NDA. They had 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. Throughout the process, B&N executives praised the Alex for its innovation.[28] SPRING DESIGN, a maker of e-readers and, more specifically, the developers of the Alex e-book reader has launched a suit against Barnes & Noble, claiming that the latter copied some of its design features. "Spring Design unfortunately had to take the appropriate action to protect its intellectual property rights," said Eric Kmiec, VP of Sales and Marketing at Spring Design, yesterday.[5] The California-based company suing Barnes & Noble over its e-reader wants the court to stop the sale of the Nook, according to court documents made public Tuesday. Spring Design on Monday said it was suing Barnes & Noble for stealing its ideas and using them for its Nook e-reader. Spring Design introduced its Alex e-reader the day before the Nook made its debut. Barnes and Noble unveiled its e-book reader, the Nook, on October 20.[29]
Spring Design claimed that the two companies had meetings and other communications, reaching all the way to the executive level, on the subject of the product and collaboration. The release of the Nook apparently caught Spring Design off guard, as they had announced Alex the day before Barnes & Noble announced the Nook. Although, it's also entirely possible that the announcement was rushed because the company caught wind of the Nook's impending release. Eric Kmiec, Spring Design Vice President of Sales and Marketing, said in the press release, "Spring Design unfortunately had to take the appropriate action to protect its intellectual property rights.[30]
In July, B&N requested a summary of Spring'''s product development and on Oct. 1, Spring'''s CEO had a meeting with B&N people to discuss possible revenue sharing for Alex device in the university textbook market. B&N "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," Spring said in its filing. On Oct. 20, Barnes and Noble announced their eReader the Nook, which came as a '''complete surprise to Spring'''.[18] First it came Alex, Spring Design's Android-based e-book reader, and then it came Nook, B&N's eReader. Both feature two dual E-Ink capacitive touchscreens and Google's Android, however, the functionalities of the screens are somewhat different. Allegedly, Spring Design has been working at an Android dual-screen e-book reader since 2006 and they have the documents which show the patents that the company filed back then.[31] Spring Design is a relatively young software company; it started in 2006 and has since released a number of programs and pieces of software for the burgeoning e-book and e-book reader market. One of their initial Alex™ designs was for the Android e-book reader. B. Dalton has touted the Nook as being the world's most advanced e-reader and has heavily advertised its many features, such as a color screen and the ability to "share" books between readers. It is unclear what the effect of the lawsuit will be on the Nook, but one imagines that B. Dalton will have to answer for its behavior towards Spring Design.[32] B. Dalton's e-book reader, or e-reader, the Nook, was recently released with much fanfare by the company. It seems that all is not well between B. Dalton and the software company that designed the guts of the Nook. Spring Design filed a lawsuit today, claiming that B. Dalton violated Alex™ e-book intellectual property.[32]
Not all is well in the land of Nooks and crannies. Cupertino-based Spring Design has filed a lawsuit against Barnes & Noble over the use of its Alex e-book intellectual property. Spring Design had been working on the very same concept since 2006, filing patents along the way, and that it even worked with Barnes & Noble since January of this year to bring Alex to the market with the book-seller as a partner.[30] Spring Design launched a device - the Alex - with a similar layout the day before the Nook - although it has a larger lower screen that sends internet pages up to the e-ink screen for low battery reading. Spring Design has said that Barnes & Noble's device infringes on its patents, and claims that the two companies were engaged in conversation about the device in the year leading up to its launch.[33]
Spring Design, based in California, claim that Barnes & Noble copied key features and ideas of its Alex dual-screen ebook reader when making making its own ebook, the Nook.[13] Spring Design is suing Barnes & Noble, claiming the bookseller's Nook ebook reader is a rip-off of its own Alex reader.[13]
" made no mention during that meeting or any other meeting with Spring Design that it was actually in the process of developing a device with many of the product features contained in," said Spring Design in documents filed with the courts. Both Spring Design and Barnes & Noble unveiled their ebook readers in the same week. Both devices feature a colour touchscreen rather than an eInk display, and use Google's Android operating system to navigate menus.[13] A Barnes & Noble spokeswoman said the company does not comment on litigation. Spring Design said it first filed patents for its Alex reader, which features a dual screen and runs on Google Inc's (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research ) Android operating system, in 2006.[12] A California-based company filed suit Monday against Barnes and Noble, accusing the retailer of stealing its ideas and using them for the Nook e-reader. Barnes and Noble copied features found in Spring Design's Alex e-reader and used them in its Nook e-reader, according to Spring Design.[22] A statement 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. According to the report, both e-readers use the Android operating system and combine an e-ink screen with a color touch screen.[25] The manufacturers, as it turns out, don't. Landing firmly on the desk of Barnes & Noble's design desk today is one such court action from Spring Design, who're claiming that the B&N Nook e-reader is far too similar to its own Alex.[23]
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 Barnes and Noble.com, discussing confidential information regarding the features, functionality and capabilities of Alex. 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. If Spring does have the patents (why claim it if they didn'''t), and did carry on these meetings with B&N under an NDA (easily proven by travel records alone) then it strikes me that the book retailer has a lot of '''splaining to do.[16] During a presentation at Chelsea Piers on the Hudson River, William Lynch, president of Barnes & Noble's online site, demonstrated how that touch-screen component could be used to flip through a book catalog and buy a book with two finger-taps. Spring Design claims that it had discussed the features and capabilities of its e-reader with Barnes & Noble as far back as "the beginning of 2009," and that the bookseller had signed a non-disclosure agreement regarding the device.[6] The exchange of meetings, emails, and conference calls with executives -- up to BN.com's president -- were bound by non-disclosure agreements, Spring Design says. The company also says that Barnes & Noble execs praised its e-reader's innovative features, which Spring Design patented in 2006.[8]
The Alex, which doesn't appear to be in production yet, is also supposed to run on Android and will feature two screens. Spring signed an NDA with Barnes & Noble (BKS) on Feb. 12 this year and says it first met with the company to show off its design for a dual-screen e-reader shortly after that.[34] Over the last several years Spring Design claims their executives and various teams of management had met with the team at Barnes and Noble to discuss the creation of an ereader for the company. Now that the Nook is releasing in November Spring Design has filed a lawsuit that claims information used from their meetings in which an NDA was signed were implemented in the Barnes and Noble Nook.[35] The California'''based Technology Company Spring designs said on Tuesday that it has filed a lawsuit against Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE:BKS), claiming that their newly-launched eReader the Nook copied its dual-screen design after the two companies discussed a possible partnership.[18]
Spring Design's squad of crack lawyers has now taken action to protect the company's patents. According to Spring Design, Barnes & Noble, one amongst many book stores with whom it held meetings and shared details of its device, soaked up the confidential information and used that to develop its own e-book reader.[5] Spring claims to have been developing and filing patents on its Alex since 2006, the year of the company's founding. Alex, which Spring plans to have out by the end of this year, is a dual-screen, Android-based e-book reader. Starting last spring, says Spring, the company has been holding discussions with Barnes & Noble in which (under a non-disclosure agreement) it shared confidential information about its device.[20]
The device, which will retail for $259, is expected to debut at the end of November. It has a color, touch-sensitive display for navigation, allows for wireless downloads via AT&T's 3G network or Wi-Fi, and runs a variation of the Android platform. According to court documents, Spring Design first presented their design for Alex to a Barnes & Noble consultant on February 17, 2009 five days after both sides signed a non-disclosure agreement.[29]
Alex, with its unique Duet Navigator, provides the capability for interaction and navigation techniques of the two screens and furthermore utilizes the capabilities of Android to enhance the reader's experience by supporting interactive access to the Internet for references and links. As the first in the market to offer an e-book with full Internet browsing while reading and with easy navigational control via its touch screen, Alex is well-positioned to offer the most dynamic and powerful reading device in the market. This thing looks awesome. Good for Spring Design in protecting it's IP. One of my biggest complaints with the Kindle is Amazon's insistence that it be locked down and only do what Amazon wants it to do. The Alex uses Android and sounds like it's a sweet device that might be hackable and could be turned into a really really useful tool. Here's hoping that Spring Design really are the good guys in this.[36] 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." At the moment it is unclear what this lawsuit will mean to the Nook, but Kmiec said, "It is our desire to resolve this matter so that we can move forward together to expand and grow this e-book market with enriched user experience, bringing readers to a new level of reading enjoyment." Barnes & Noble had not yet responded to the allegations as of this writing.[30] "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," Eric Kmiek, Spring Design's VP of sales and marketing, said in the release. "Unfortunately, had to take the appropriate action to protect its intellectual property rights."[8] Spring sued Barnes Noble yesterday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., accusing the bookseller of turning its "Alex" design into the Nook. The Nook, which is on sale now and is supposed to ship this month, runs on Google's Android (GOOG) platform and sports a large monochrome screen and a smaller color screen.[34]
Fortunately, someone else read it so no one else needs to. • Barnes & Noble, which recently unveiled its e-reader, The Nook, to great fanfare, is now being sued by Spring Design, which claims to have been in touch with B&N about design ideas for months, only to find them lifted for the Nook.[37] Finally got the actual lawsuit Spring Design filed in federal court against Barnes & Noble ( NYSE: BKS ) over their dueling e-readers and a little time to look through it. (The full PDF is embedded after the jump.) Spring claims that it only shared certain info about its own e-reader because B&N was "seriously" considering acquiring it.[38] I'm looking forward to my nook, I don't need excel or word docs. As someone mentioned, this lawsuit is about trade secret theft and contract breach (of the purported NDA) and not about patent infringement based on the article's description of the facts. If Spring Design can (1) show the NDA covers this dispute (and isn't rendered unenforceable in the process) and (2) that B&N used information obtained confidentially under that NDA in a manner inconsistent with its contract agreement with SD, ie for B&N's own designed product, then SD should win. It could ask for an injunction to stop B&N from further using or transferring that confidential information, ask for damages to cover economic loss (if any) or pursue its rights, for example liquidated damages, under the contract aka NDA to the extent the court deems is enforceable. That said, an overhaul of the patent system, regardless of this case, is imho, seriously needed.[24] ''After that, B&N apparently cut off all contact with Spring Design, and the company heard nothing new until the nook was launched last month. As Engadget point out, the exact terms of the agreement between the two firms basically say that, while each is allowed to produce competing products, they can't do so having made use of knowledge gleaned under the NDA. ''It seems the bulk of the court case is going to be Spring Design attempting to prove that the nook's development borrowed from that of the Alex.[17]
Not hard to prove call or e-mail, it then includes NDA that was signed by BN prior to meeting with Spring Design, and that pretty much seals the deal, as it has non-compete and nondisclosure sections BN walked right over. Then outlines various meetings, conf calls, e-mails, power points, etc. that continued while Spring Design was led to believe BN would be partnering to use their device. The really brazen part is it went as high as the CFO of BN and that as late aa 10/1/09 BN was meeting with Spring Design's CEO supposedly over partnering deal, but they still needed to know this and that about how ALEX device worked. Better still is on a press call given my Willaim J Lynch at BN, Mr. Lynch who was given various Spring Design's concepts and information, actually refers to product screen benefits exactly as outlined by Spring Design to him. He says on the transcript of call that BN is releasing the first dual screen e-reader, yet e-mail sent by him and included as exhibit shows he was privy to Spring's Design product.[36]
Spring Design has filed a lawsuit against BN because it believes the Nook copies Alex and therefore means the company violated the NDA, copied features, and misappropriated trade secrets. Spring Design unfortunately had to take the appropriate action to protect its intellectual property rights.[11] The whole process was under NDA, and the dual release has prompted Spring Design to file a trade secret lawsuit. The two devices are different in design, and slightly different in function (the Alex has a full Android internet browser, while the Nook simply has touch navigation) but the fact they were released so close together means there's something decidedly fishy about the whole situation.[33]
E-reader maker Spring Design has sued Barnes & Noble, claiming the bookseller stole its trade secrets and used them in the recently introduced Nook.[9] This isn't a patent troll kind of situation; rather, the claim is misappropriation of trade secrets. Spring Design claims that they have been developing a dual-screen, Android-based e-book reader since 2006, filing patents all the while; and that they showed pretty much everything to Barnes & Noble in the expectation of working together with them to bring their reader to market.[36] Spring Design claims the bookseller stole its trade secrets and used them in the Nook e-book reader.[9]
The device, which will retail for $259, is expected to debut at the end of November. It has a color, touch-sensitive display for navigation, allows for wireless downloads via AT&T's 3G network or Wi-Fi, and runs a variation of the Android platform. Spring Design claims that it first started filing patents for its Alex e-book reader in 2006.[22] The design in question involves the Spring Design "Alex" the companies own ereader, which, like the Nook, features two electronic ink displays with capacitive LCD touchscreen capabilities and Google Android operating systems.[35] Spring Design had been developing an ebook reader called the Alex.'' It had many meetings, emails and conference calls with executives ranging up to the president of BarnesandNoble.com. Apparently the book outfit liked some of Alex's 'innovative' features and used them in the Nook.[26] Cupertino, Calif. -based Spring Design said it showed off its Alex eBook reader (right) to B&N under a non-disclosure agreement.[28] The company says it started filing patents for Alex in 2006 and was holding conference calls and meetings with B&N execs beginning in 2009. Alex's feature set was discussed confidentially with those execs under a non-disclosure agreement Says Eric Kmeic, Sprin Design VP of Sales and Marketing: "Spring Design unfortunately had to take the appropriate action to protect its intellectual property rights.[27] The features described by Lynch in an Oct. 21 media call about the Nook were all "disclosed to B&N by Spring under the terms of the NDA in anticipation of a potential business partnership between the parties," Spring wrote. The non-disclosure agreement does not "restrict the right of a party to create, procure, or market products or services which may be competitive with those offered by the other party," but those products cannot use "the confidential information of the other party for such purposes." "B&N unlawfully misappropriated and used Spring's confidential information and trade secrets to develop and sell a competing product, the Nook, for its own benefit," the filing said.[29]
The Nook is sufficiently similar to the Alex that Spring has charged Barnes & Noble with copying the Alex's features in violation of the companies' agreement. "Spring Design unfortunately had to take the appropriate action to protect its intellectual property rights," said Kmiec.[20] Spring Design, based in Cupertino, Calif., said it had been in talks with Barnes & Noble about confidential information related to Alex's features since the beginning of 2009 within a nondisclosure agreement.[3]
Spring Design claims that the similarity between its Alex e-reader and Barnes & Nobles Nook is too close for comfort ''' and too close to be legal.[21] From where we look, all we can say is that Spring Design has all the right to file suit against Barnes & Noble even if Alex has a browser, while Nook doesn't have one. This is not all as there are other differences between both companies, however, I think it's right to wait for Barnes & Noble to issue an official response in the following hours.[31]
According to Spring Design, having had the NDA signed they then showed the Alex and accompanying marketing materials to Barnes and Noble employees. ''They even say that B&N.com president William Lynch said he was "looking forward" to the two company's partnership.[17] In fact,the company had been working with Barnes & Noble for two years to develop a reader for the bookseller. Until the press event, Spring Design thought they were B&N'''s supplier.[2] We always knew that Spring Design was working closely to Barnes & Noble at an e-book reader.[31]
CNET reports that Spring Design is seeking monetary damages from Barnes and Noble, and also an injunction, which would bar future sales of the Nook.[39] Spring Design alleges that Barnes and Noble stole proprietary dual-screen technology for its Nook e-reader.[39]
According to Spring Design, the two companies had been in contact with each other over ereader designs since the beginning of the year, with various executives exchanging calls, meetings and product details under NDA -- which would certainly explain why there are suddenly two Android-based ereaders on the market with dual electronic ink and capacitive LCD touchscreen displays. Definitely suspicious, but we'd also note that the Nook and Alex actually work quite differently: users browse the web on the Alex's touchscreen and then "print" the content they want to read to the electronic ink display, while the Nook doesn't have a browser and the touchscreen is only used for navigation, not content.[24] For Spring to allege that B&N could develop or even include in the Nook, design element from the Alex, within an 8 month time frame, is ridiculous. Product development and manufacturing cycles run well over a year for launches of this size.[29] The two companies talked a few more times during the summer. Spring says that "up until B&N's Nook announcement on October 20it believed that it was disclosing the confidential features of its Alex device in exchange for B&N's implicit promise that it would seriously consider acquiring Spring's product."[34] In July, B&N requested a summary of Spring's product development and on October 1, B&N had a meeting with Spring's CEO to discuss possible revenue sharing for Spring's Alex device in the university textbook market. B&N "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," Spring said in its filing.[29]
In April and May, Spring Design met with other B&N executives, including William Lynch, president of B&N.com and Kevin Frain, B&N's CFO. Lynch and Frain were given a product demo and shown a PowerPoint presentation for an Android-based e-reader known as Alex. "Lynch warned Spring's Albert Teng that he should not consider Amazon as a content partner, because Amazon was likely to steal Spring's unique idea without ever buying anything from Spring," according to court documents.[29]
If Spring Design releases a product, the company will face a crowded market that includes not just the Nook, but Amazon's Kindle and Sony Reader.[9] I contact Spring Design rep and asked a simple question (this was about 1 hr before my T-Mobile G1 went bye bye for the evening). I asked "Did you have any contact with BN about your device prior to the release of the Nook?" Woman explained she was not speaking on behalf of company, but when I pressed she said that the simple answer was "yes", but the best way to understand was to read to court filing. I was then able to get her to e-mail the court filing to me. Social engineering at it's finest. It blew my mind it documents how Spring Design was contacted by Phil Baker (A strategy and development consultant for BN) back in February of this year after the Kindle 2 was released.[36] The Nook won't offer internet browsing and the screen is only used for device navigation, while the Spring Design unit is meant to act more like a "tablet PC" with various forms of content. More info will follow as soon as the court case gets under way, although given the number of devices moving towards these exact types of technologies I don't expect this one to get very far, even the designs look far from the same.[35]
I agree, ereaders have always intrigued me because of the eink, I own a few ebooks, but never have finished one, actually I don't read as much as I should in general. I have an iPhone, I have a nice laptop with a big screen, but I can't read a book on either, why would I read when I could watch a movie, or play a game, or surf the web, I want a dedicated e-book reader so that I actually read, and the Nook is the first one that seems to cover all my needs, It has a brilliant color screen, which was always a problem I had with the kindle, while both of their reading surfaces are the same, the buttons on the Kindle were always boring and unexciting looking, the nook looks good, the ability to select books just by choosing the cover makes it more "fun" and more motivating to pick it up and start reading. I know this might sound like a ridiculous reason to want to get a nook, but I am a gadget freak, and having a gadget for reading will make me read more just to play with the toy.[40] All of your arguments about why the Kindle & Nook won't be successful are coming from someone more tech-savvy than the target audience. You apparently already have an iPhone that can download ebooks wherever you go, and you don't mind reading those ebooks on its tiny screen. For the non-tech market who reads a lot (and yes, people who read printed books still exist in surprisingly large numbers), these readers are much more comfortable.[40]
Apparently the Alex ebook reader appeared just 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.[26] I'm going to weigh in and say Nilay is probably right. Now don't get me wrong, this is not entirely an integration vs. convergence story. I believe there's a market for dedicated devices: cameras have not been displaced by music phones, media players have not been displaced by music phones and ebook readers could serve bibliophiles, especially those who travel a lot. Mobile reader apps like those from Amazon and Barnes & Noble can easily tap into more casual markets, allowing users to leverage the investment in screens they already own instead of buying a dedicated device. That's one reason why I think it has been important for Amazon and B&N to get their ebook platform onto as many devices with screens as possible, and why Sony's making a mistake by ignoring the opportunity.[40] Well I think refresh rate is a bit of an issue. It makes flicking through books and menus a bit tedious, but I do agree for actual page-turning while reading it isn't an issue at all. "However, mobile reader apps like those from Amazon and Barnes & Noble can easily tap into more casual markets, allowing users to leverage the investment in screens they already own instead of buying a dedicated device."[40]
I for one would love to know how the leak timetable worked'''did the appearance of rumored pictures of a Barnes and Noble dual screen reader take Spring totally by surprise? Bet that was a fun office that morning. The lawsuit apparently does not mention trying to actually stop B&N from selling the Nook, so I would expect that Spring is looking to get paid'''and from the look of things B&N would be smart to write them a check, as early as possible so as not to spoil the Nook rollout.[16] "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." It will be able to connect to the Web via Wi-Fi or 3G, EVDO/CDMA and GSM mobile networks. The company suggested that, while it was still looking for distribution partners, the e-reader would likely make its debut by the end of the year.[6] Features that Barnes & Noble allegedly copied from the Alex include the dual-screen design that offers a separate color touchscreen for navigation and Web access, and a six-inch, black-and-white electronic paper display for reading e-books. Both devices are based on Google's Android operating system.[9] Among the most interesting features on the Nook was a 3.5-inch multi-touch color display, which seemed to best the comparatively limited touch-pad on the Kindle. Now, a company has filed suit in California court, alleging that Barnes and Noble incorporated the dual-screen design into the Nook without notifying its creators.[39] Kindle does have the upper hand in a few areas, namely battery life (14 days vs. Nook'''s 10) and its text-to-speech feature (which the Nook lacks). On the plus side for the Nook though is its bookmark feature, built-in WiFi that you can use at Barnes & Noble stores only (hopefully that will expand in the future), MP3 player with speaker, memory expansion slot that lets you add an additional 16 GB, and the ability to load and read PDFs.[41]
Barnes & Noble's eBookstore, launched in July, will provide Nook users with a library of some 700,000 downloadable books, alongside another 500,000 free public-domain volumes from Google; books can also be downloaded via a B&N app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Barnes & Noble has aimed the Nook squarely at challenging Amazon.com's dominant mind-share in the e-reader arena, and Amazon.com has responded by slashing the prices for its original Kindle device to $259. While the overall market for e-readers remains relatively small, with Forrester Research predicting some 3 million units sold in the U.S. in 2009, they are increasingly important for online retailers such as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.[6] Try as it might, Barnes & Noble has had a hard time convincing investors and analysts that, as reading moves more and more to e-books, there is a place for retailers that derive most their revenue--and profits--from the sale of print books. In a 90-minute presentation October 27, B&N's management team did its best to persuade analysts that the company's dominant position in the traditional bricks-and-mortar field, growing online presence and expanding digital operations will keep it a major factor in bookselling in the future. The Nook, Riggio said, will let B&N reach customers who never, or rarely, shop in its stores.[42] The B&N College Booksellers president Max Roberts said the company is well positioned to take advantage of sales of digital materials (17 college stores will sell the Nook) as well as sales over the Internet--e-commerce sales are growing by double digits, Roberts said. Riggio acknowledged that with a $259 price, the Nook will have a small margin, but he said that will be somewhat offset by the sale of warranties and accessories. He told analysts that he expects that B&N will earn a higher margin on the sale of e-books than print books since e-books have no handling, warehousing, shipping, receiving or pick-and-pack costs. No one asked what he thought a good price for e-books would be.[42]
In exchange, the company charges, B&N breached an NDA, misappropriated trade secrets, and competed unfairly. Spring is asking for unspecified damages and both a preliminary and permanent injunction against the sales of B&N's Nook e-reader.[38] ERRATA Ina Fried is now reporting that the actual suit DOES seek to block sale of the Nook, asking for "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." I still expect this to be settled with money, but Spring is talking tough in their opening position.[16]
For one thing, Barnes & Noble would have had to work very fast to copy Spring's design and get it to market in less than a year. Another problem with Spring's case: As far as I can tellbased on its own complaintSpring only showed Barnes & Noble some PowerPoint slides, which means there wasn't much for it to copy. Eric Kmiec, Spring's VP of sales and marketing, told me last month that he and CEO Priscilla Lu were brought in this summer to "focus" the Cupertino, Calif. -based firm, which had previously been "playing around in R&D" and had "no real market focus." It's hard to believe that the bookseller had made a promiseeven an "implicit" oneto buy something that didn't exist. [34] Recognition of Spring'''s intellectual property and an agreement to work together in 2010. '''We still think,''' Kmiec says, '''we can work this out amicably.''' If Spring'''s friendly attitude makes you think they have a weak case, don'''t be so sure. (Though we have nothing to go on besides Spring'''s side of the story.) Whether or not Spring is in the right, B&N is the big dog in this space. Without Amazon as an alternative, Spring has no other place to get their content. The most they can hope for is a little cash and recognition from Barnes & Noble to soothe their wounded pride and hope that they can get back in the game next year. That might not sound like justice, but it is business.[2] The "history" changed when Spring Design decided to involve Barnes & Noble into the business. It seems like there were lots of meetings, emails exchanging between officials, conference calls, all of them under non-disclosure agreement protection.[31]
In early 2009, it started working with Barnes & Noble, and revealed details of the features, functionality and capabilities of the Alex under a strict non-disclosure agreement. "It is our desire to resolve this matter so that we can move forward together to expand and grow this ebook market with enriched user experience, bringing readers to a new level of reading enjoyment," said Kmiec.[13] U.S. bookstore Barnes & Noble's new ebook reader - the Nook - is under threat after a rival hardware developer claimed that the design was poached.[33] You can watch the show here, but essentially big boss Joshua Topolsky and Paul Miller feel that the new Barnes and Noble Nook is going to be a hit -- the one machine that gets suburban moms to buy. Nilay Patel, rationally (as he agrees with me) says it's not going to happen and there's no mass market for dedicated ebook readers.[40]
The service comes exclusive via the Barnes & Noble e-book store. If the device is also mistakenly left at home, through the Barnes & Noble free e-reader software installed in any of the compliant phones (iPhones, BlackBerry, Laptops, Smartphones), users have access to content in the nook e-book reader so that they can read through their phones/PCs.[43] The Barnes and Noble "nook" e-reader is out (well, almost), and it's got cutting edge technologies and functions even the Amazon Kindle e-book reader cannot step up to.[43] Barnes & Noble ( BKS ) last month introduced its e-book reader Nook (pictured), a competitor to Amazon ( AMZN )'s Kindle, that it's slated to begin shipping around Thanksgiving.[8]
The $259 Barnes & Noble Nook is certainly a worthy contender in the up-and-coming e-book reader market. The dual-screen Android device with the funny name was to rave reception; it seemed everyone couldn't wait to get their hands on one.[44]
The technology is powered by a special e-reader software, which allows transferring of book files to other paired devices like the nook e-book reader, iPhone, BlackBerry, Motorola Smartphones, PC and Mac. This extra service lasts for up to 14days at no extra cost. The device also allows for browsing and instant downloading of e-books and journals via its 3G wireless network.[43]
I own a Sony Reader and that's open--I can read just about any file I see on it, and can download it straight to the device without having to run it through a website or an account; and from the description, the Nook is open too. I can't say about the Alex because I haven't seen anything on it other than a roundup of several new competitors in the field, where it looked so similar to the Nook that I thought the same company must have created them both. Looks like they did, though inadvertently.[8] I already have an iPhone I don't want another walled garden device. I don't think the nook will only be popular with suburban moms and I definitely think there is a very large potential market for such a device. As a college student I have made the nook the #1 item on my holiday wish list, it costs less than a few textbooks, and has the potential of leading to free textbooks on torrents, and the ones that I can't find for free, I've already found a textbook ebook site that sells them for cheaper than my local student store's used section. (textbooks.com, though some aren't compatible with the nook) So in my mind it will pay for itself, though I am a film major, so things like pictures and charts aren't as important as they may be in science and math courses. The black and white display is fine, but to get the rest of the college market they need to sell the textbook ebooks on the B&N store, and an eventual nook with color eink screen (Which is inevitable). I think with this future of all of our digital needs being merged into a single device, will eventually need to be reversed, for many reasons, one product can't cover an entire market, the entire gadget industry would crumble. Software can't do everything, we will continue on this trend of merging all our devices into our cell phones and continuously smaller tablets for a few more years, but for reasons of market diversity, the market will need to shift away from these Jack of all trades master of none devices, and focus on products that excel beyond what these single devices can do.[40] Hey, the DS has two screens first. I have news for them, if they were depending on trade secret protection and showed it to ANYONE not under a really tight NDA, then they are f-d. This is actually pretty interesting and I wonder if this in some way has to do with why the Nook doesn't have a browser. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that they could build apps like a browser in the bottom touch area to display to the energy sipping e-ink display. In these situations, non-disclosure agreements are not very strong defenses.[24] Spring is accusing Barnes and Noble'''s of breaching the non-disclosure agreement, violating unfair competition laws, and misappropriating trade secrets.[18]
According to Spring Design, a maker of electronic readers, Barnes and Noble was originally interested in a potential partnership.[39] Niches don't make for big markets. As Spring Design and Barnes & Noble are likely to find out if their lawsuit drags on, only big markets are worth fighting over.[15] Will that help Spring in court? Probably not unless the company can prove that B&N knowingly replicated something that could only have come from confidential Spring Design info. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Monday afternoon, says an NDA was signed on Feb.12, 2009 (not spring, as the company had in its press release) after Spring Design was approached by Phil Baker on behalf of B&N. The NDA, which Spring says is governed by New York law, says the only "equitable relief" in a breach would be an injunction or "specific performance."[38] For the moment we only have Spring Design's side of the argument, but a lawsuit isn't going to help either company in the long run. Their main competition lies elsewhere and both parties would do well to resolve this case as quickly as possible and get on with releasing and selling their respective devices.[11]
The device is expected to debut at the end of November for $259. It has touch-sensitive display, color, allows for wireless downloads via AT&T'''s 3G network or Wi-Fi, and runs on a variation of Android platform. Eric Kmeic, Spring Design VP of Sales and Marketing said, '''Spring Design unfortunately had to take the appropriate action to protect its intellectual property rights.[18] The Spring Design is not just suing for monetary damages, but is also seeking halt to the Nook sales.[18] The bookseller unveiled the Nook ''' which does bear a resemblance to Spring Design's Alex e-reader ''' without notifying Spring Design.[39] Spring Design first developed and began filing patents on its Alex e-book, an innovative dual screen, Android-based e-book back in 2006.[16]
The Spring Design introduced its eReader'''Alex a day before the B&N'''s the Nook made its debut.[18] On March 20, Spring Design met with Ravi Gopalakrishnan, head of B&N software development, who allegedly told Spring executives that B&N wanted a product that would compete with the Kindle.[29] Two eReaders surfaced which we said that are very similar. It seems like Spring Design has a problem with that so they sued B&N for trading secrets.[31] Hey. that kind of has a similar design, lets sue and get free media attention. B&N were in contact with Spring Design. presumably they were shopping around for a manufacturer. SD presumably showed them their design, stated their price and B&N found a cheaper manufacturer while still coveting the design they saw from SD.[24]
Then there is the helpful advice BN gave Spring Design where BN staff recommended Spring Design not talk to Amazon, because (as BN says) Amazon is the kind of company that is likely to steal Spring Design's proprietary information rather then form a partnership as BN was planning.[36]
"Kindle has become the #1 bestselling item by both unit sales and dollars -- not just in our electronics store but across all product categories on Amazon.com. It's also the most wished for and the most gifted. We are grateful for and energized by this customer response," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. "Earlier this week we began shipping the latest generation Kindle. Its 3G wireless works in the U.S. and 100 countries." Just as Amazon seems to have a hit on its hands, along comes Barnes & Noble's new "Nook" e-reader (www.nook.com). [45] When it was released in October, tech journalists went wild for the Barnes and Noble Nook, an e-reader billed as an Amazon Kindle killer.[39]
You'll be able to lend your Nook e-books to other Nook owners, or anyone with an iPhone, iPod touch, select BlackBerry and Motorola smartphones, PC or Mac. There are some limitations to the lending process, but it's still a cool feature. Amazon and Barnes & Noble aren't the only ones trying to conquer the e-book market, but analysts believe the efforts from Sony and others probably are going to fall behind those two companies.[45] Barnes & Noble's Nook, which also runs on the Google Android operating system, features a 6-inch e-ink display alongside a second multi-touch display for navigation and book purchasing.[6]
The Alex has two screens: a black-and-white screen for reading books, and a color screen for shopping for book titles. The Nook has the same features, and both use a new Armada 166E chip from Marvell.[28] On the Nook, the capacitive color touch screen is likely to detract attention from the eInk screen, even when it is off, it is likely to produce glare. I don't want to knock the nook down, because I like all the innovative features such as the ability to "lend" or "read in store" books, but I just don't see the color touch screen as a positive on these kind of devices, not when all I want to do is READ.[24] The device comes with a sleek and portable design; it has a thin side and light weight just like a paperback book. It measures 7.7mm x 4.9mm x 0.5mm and weighs 11.2 ounces. It also features a 3.5 inch colour touch screen display at the lower column that recognises fingers for one touch control as well as additional removable back covers that are well designed and have vibrant attractive colours.[43]
Word docs, rtfs, Excel spreadsheets as well as the usual Acrobat files and eBooks, unrestricted wifi, ludicrous battery life -- all of it obliterates the restricted/crippled eReaders we've been getting. The only question: why buy an exclusive eReader rather than a tablet-sized media player that reads eBook files? Don't let B&N and Amazon force you to buy their readers -- force them to make their stores available on every capable unrestricted device. The QUE is fine if its what you are in the market for, but I don't want something that big to read off of, most books are smaller sized and therefore easier to read and hold, an 8x11 screen means an even larger device, not very useful for casual reading, but great for buisness use, which is where its being targeted.[24] Hardware patents I feel are fine for the most part. It is stupid software patents that get to me. The question is what did they patent. I mean is a two screen device going to be patentable? Couldn't you claim the Nintendo DS as prior art since people have used it as a book reader? As I said I have not read the patents so I am not sure where I stand on this but yes it could be a good use for patent law.[36]
The lawsuit is about trade secrets not patents. I still prefer a Kindle over this nonsense. There are good ideas on the Nookie, but they seem to fall short on execution. If I were B&N (that sounds soo Dolce & Gabbana) I would have waited for those real hybrid screens we are seeing lately. Those screens won't be out for another year and even then they will be a major battery drain.[24]
The Nook has a 6-inch grayscale screen for reading with a 3.5" color LCD below for touchscreen navigation; Alex includes Duet Navigator as a trademark. Both are based on Android. ( Update : We've posted the lawsuit.)[10] The Nook uses a dual screen approach to ebook display, with the lower half of the device a capacitive LCD using an Android interface and the upper half a 'normal' ebook display.[33]
If they had been in contact for ebook reader's design, I think spring has right to sue. Reply For consistancy, I would recommend that they rename it the nOok.[24] The nook, the Alex, the Kindle and the Sony eBook series all look decent in various ways, but PL's QUE will be sold alongside the nook. Unless B&N severely compromised its functionality, the QUE looks to destroy every other reader on the market.[24] I'''m not taking sides. One way or another, I hope this is resolved quickly: The Nook is due to ship late this month, and is, for the moment, the Amazon Kindle'''s most promising competitor. Spring'''s press release doesn'''t say whether its goal is to prevent B&N from shipping the Nook at all.[21] Spring says B&N asked for an update in July; the e-reader maker says it provided a list of "confidential" features that later would show up in the produce announcement for B&N's own Nook.[38] The companies had another meeting before that Oct. 20 announcement. In none of them, says Spring, did B&N mention it was building its own device with many similar features.[38]
Lynch, the suit claims, told Spring's Albert Tang he;d never seen a dual-screen device like that and considered it "very advanced." Spring says Lynch warned them not to deal with Amazon ( NSDQ: AMZN ) because the Kindle maker "was likely to steal" the unique idea. [38] Thank you. It would seem then that even though Nook is cool, or cooler than Kindle, there is some danger in getting it and end up not being able to use it if things don't go well for BN. If Spring can come up with the e-mail records, they might have a good case.[16]
In unveiling the product, the company said it was in discussion with potential partners, but did not say when the Alex would be available. Barnes & Noble is taking pre-orders for the Nook, which is set to ship at the end of this month.[9] A California-based company filed suit against Barnes and Noble, accusing the retailer of stealing its ideas and using them for the Nook e-reader.[22] '''Barnes & Noble'''s new Nook e-reader is the e-reader that competitors must now beat,''' David Coursey of PC World wrote recently.[39]
How would you feel about reading on the mythical Apple Tablet or Microsoft Courier ? In the long run, that's where the mass market will be captured. Sorry, Joshua, mom's going to go to Barnes & Noble, perhaps smile at the Nook, and then buy her paperback book and get back in the minivan. at least for now.[40] At present, 90% of listings are for books, music and videos, but B&N is considering adding different product areas not just to marketplace but to B&N.com's regular business as well, Lynch said. The conference also gave B&N another chance to defend its purchase of Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, which some analysts have questioned. The purchase, Lombardi said, will add to both cash flow and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).[42] Do we have to refer to B&N as BARNES & NOBLE since their logo is all caps? Does it really matter? The logo is all lowercase, but it's a logo. When people refer to a device in writing shouldn't they use the proper capitalization used in the language in which they are writing? I'm tired of iMac, iPod, iPhone too. Barnes and Noble actually uses both inconsistently throughout their site and press materials, and besides that, it's a proper noun.[24] What mystifies Spring is that Barnes & Noble never made it clear that Christmas was enough of an issue to go to another manufacturer. Spring wonders why Barnes & Noble didn'''t just step back from discussions once it was clear they needed their device faster. As a consolation prize, Barnes & Noble has been very open to working with multiple device makers through their BN.com e-bookstore.[2] No one from Barnes and Noble was not available for making any statement regarding the lawsuit, neither was there any word on what or how much in damages Spring is hoping to get out of the lawsuit.[18]
The Barnes & Noble e-book reader store offers over one million e-books of varying backgrounds and sells new releases of the software for $9.99.[43] The "nook" e-book reader is the first to be powered with the Google Android Operating System, thereby promising lots of powerful applications and functions. It also features as the very first e-book reader to offer 3G wireless access.[43] Huge company with an armada of lawyers steals everything from a startup. What did they steal? Ideas? Give me a break. Does "An android based E-book reader" constitute a patent worthy idea? Actually, of course it does, and that's why I for one do not see the benefit in supporting such startups in cases like these. This company is a patent troll.[36]
Many companies in the e-book universe (like B&N) were likely to be looking at various e-reader designs at the time Alex was shown.[10] The plan was to use the Alex as B&N'''s Nook, even if there had been rumblings that B&N wanted a device in 2009, not 2010, when the Alex would be available.[2] Price. I love ebooks and have been reading on the go for years, but ebook pricing has been way too high until recently -- what's the difference between a "hardcover" ebook or a "paperback" one? Amazon understands this and sets prices accordingly low, but neither B&N or Sony seem to get it looking at the prices in their stores. Fact is, none of these things are going to drive Nook sales or any other sales to the suburban mom.[40] The combination of the Nook and store sales will result in B&N getting a greater share of a customer's wallet, Riggio maintained. During the presentation, B&N didn't make any predictions about how its physical bookstores will fare in the next few years, but did point to some favorable trends, topped by lower rents. COO Mitch Klipper said that in almost all cases B&N is renewing leases at greatly reduced rates, and he expects the company to have flexibility on leases for the next several years.[42]
The tests have been successful, Klipper said, and the company will roll out the categories to all stores in 2010. B&N is continuing to shift the product mix of its DVD and music segment, which now makes up 7%-8% of total store sales. Klipper also noted that since 2002 B&N has been able to increase inventory turns from 2.15 to 2.80, an indication, he said, of an improvement in B&N's supply chain systems.[42] "We are interested in working together to develop the market synergistically and not competitively," Eric Kmiec, VP of sales and marketing, said in an e-mail. "We do not want B&N to offer a look a-like product that confuses the market, targeting the same sector of customers and utilizing the confidential information they had on Alex."[9]
I agree that it's poorly named, but no one can argue that it's called the nook, lower case. Marketing inconsistencies just show that they, like many companies, don't hold their marketing department to a high standard, or have clearly defined naming convention for their products.[24] The Nook would be a HUGE hit if it was priced in the $90 - $120 range. As it is, people all over are cutting back on non-essential spending, and the current price for this thing puts it in the category of luxury electronics. It will get there like anything else. It takes time for a company to recover their initial costs with a new product.[40]
The moment I saw the leaked pictures of the nook, I wondered at Spring's sudden "Announcement" of the Alex. Both products must have been in development for quite sometime. This isn't something that can be thrown together on a whim. not by a long shot.[24]
If the Nook added the web browser it is capable of of, Spring claims then it "will have misappropriated Spring's entire design concept."[38] Except in this case Spring Design already built a working model and plans to start selling it by the end of the year.[24] I do not want to hurt Spring Design's case, but I do want to get inform out there.[36]
You can find the Spring Design complaint here and the NDA (along with some other materials) here.[17] The press release from Spring Design did not say in what court the suit was filed, or mention what damages were being sought.[26] Spring Design, based near Apple HQ in Cupertino, says it has been forced to take appropriate action to protect its intellectual property.[7] According to a press release on the Spring Design Web site, it was announced on October 19.[22]
Spring says it showed the design for an interactive dual-screen navigation e-reader to Baker, including photos of versions. The company says Baker responded by telling them he'd never seen such an advanced e-reader design.[38] If competing is what youre after that is. It's a shame B&N had to steal tech in order to make their digital content more appealing. They started talks with B & N in the spring of 2009? Wow, I didn't know that B & N could steal the design, and get it into manufacturing, and into the stores in the space of a few months.[10] B&N: Ha ha! Now we've got your secrets. Spring: That's our work that you're going to be using. Spring: We've got this neat thing you want to see. Sign this NDA! B&N: We're working on something similar, but we'd like to see yours to see if we can work together (signs) Spring: Now that we've got the NDA, here's what we've got so far. All of these are plausible; it's also possible that it's a genuine misunderstanding, and Spring had reason to think B&N took things that they'd actually come up with independently.[36] Once they are patented, they aren't secret anymore. It looks like B&N might have been using those secrets to develop something, but I don't think the idea of a dual screen is all that revolutionary. only slightly different format than some handheld games.[36]
I was really excited about the nook before I realized how really worthless the color screen is and B&N has far less popular books than Amazon and at a higher price.[29] I would have to say the kindle is still viable because the B&N nook has CRAZY lag when scrolling through books. It is seriously painful. That is a big one-up for the kindle over the nook. That being said, Amazon must come up with a great new kindle in order to remain competitive. Kindle fanboys? That's weird.[40] Identically and coming out at the end of November, the Nook seems to have a couple advantages over the Kindle. It's got a small, secondary, full color LCD screen at the bottom for browsing new books, in addition to the main E Ink display at the top.[45] Beginning of a sentence: "nook's easy-to-read E Ink'' display is more like a traditional book than a computer screen."[24]
The gadget manufactured by notable book sellers, Barnes & Noble, has a coloured touch screen display, which stands out as first ever in the industry.[43] The supply of electronic readers -- gadgets that let you read books, newspapers, and magazines -- is exploding, with Amazon.com, Sony, Barnes & Noble, and a host of publishers either entering the business or strongly considering it.[15]
The nook e-book reader comes with a ground breaking "Lend Me" technology, allowing for lending of books via sharing with and sending to phones and computers compatible with the nook.[43] I love the dedicated e-book reader vs reader apps on other devices. For me, it's the screen.[40] Seriously, what new, patentable ideas, do you need in an eBook? Make a computer (covered by existing patents), give it an e-paper screen (existing patents) an input device (touch screen, keyboard, rollerball, touchpad - all existing patents), storage (existing patents), OS (existing patents) and some applications (most notably, an eBook reader - existing patents).[36] From a green perspective convergence is a good thing because it reduces what would normally be the carbon footprint of several devices to that of a single device. Conveniently that works for users to because they have fewer things to lug around. That only makes sense if the convergence maintains at least a majority of the functionality from the original device. In this case the single most important quality of an eBook reader, a paper-like reading experience, is eliminated by using an iPhone.[46] I remember there being a netbook that could turn to e-ink with the click of a button I'm sure I saw it here on Engadget. Author makes same mistakes about this device as most who have written about the subject. To address the three missing pieces: 1) They are a bit on the expensive side. The kindle does save on actual books, and pays for itself, eventually, given ebook pricing, and the large number of completely free classics, which you'd have to buy to read on paper. 2) Booklights work as well on a kindle as they do on a book. They cost about 5 dollars for the bedroom. I'm not sure if you've been on an airplane since about 1950, but they have pretty good lights for reading magazines, books, and yes, ebooks.[40] When you merge a phone and a camera, you make sacrifices on quality, and often a very low quality flash if a flash at all. Cell Phones and computers haven't replaced cameras for good reasons, and the same is with these ereader devices the eink is the key to their success, because it is what makes it better than multifunction devices. I also believe these are the only way to save the print industry, again as I stated earlier, my computer and iPhone are too distracting, I can do so much more stimulating things on them, just because watching movies, surfing the web, and playing games are more fun/stimulating, does not make them a substitute for reading. I plan to subscribe to NYTimes when I get my nook, and thats just because the way its delivered, and the content that it has, it makes print media more stimulating just because its an electronic device, and I know I am not the only one who is shallow like that, where I need it to be electronic to give me motivation.[40]
There's a lot that's right with dedicated ereaders like the Nook and the Kindle, however.[40] Honestly the iPod never would have been as huge if most people didn't have a way to get non-DRMed content onto the thing (e.g. ripping CDs). If we're going to live with their stupid DRM schemes they need to work across devices. I'm sure there are lots of Kindle owners right now rethinking all those books they bought as they look at the Nook and realize they're locked in and didn't realize it until now.[40]
Plastic Logic's QUE, scheduled to debut in 2010, will be aimed at the SMB (small- to medium-sized business) and enterprise markets, with the ability to download and display Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents. For much of 2009, Amazon.com managed to corner much of the public's attention with high-profile debuts for each successive Kindle device, including a rollout event in New York City for the Kindle 2 that included a reading by bestselling author Stephen King. As more devices from competing companies prepare to hit the marketplace, however, the attention will likely shift to other devices'not to mention the lawsuits they cause.[6] This case actually may be as legitimate as they come. Seriously, if these guys had NDAs and B&N pulled a Microsoft on them, they have my sympathy-- though this was the obvious way to make a new e-reader, these days. Linux, and now Android linux, are the obvious choices for the OS on any consumer device these days.[36] Yes but if you want to share ideas with someone and not have them beat you to market, you can make them sign a contract saying they won't make the same device for some amount of time. They should have done that, but they didn't, so I see nothing wrong with B&N making a similar product.[36] In the tech world, lawsuits are only ever a few minutes away. It's a competitive, incestuous business, and products in the same sectors often 'borrow' design ideas from one another to enhance their feature list or add wider appeal.[23]
The Nook also runs on Android and features two screens, one of which is used for reading and the other for browsing.[12] The Alex and the Nook have a lot of the same features, including feature two screensone e-paper for reading, a smaller LCD for navigation.[38]
If you check out nook's features page ( www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/features/ ) you can clearly see how B&N uses the word nook.[24] I'm selling as soon as the Nook is out. There is nothing the Kindle does that the nook doesn't do, why they Kindle love? Especially since the nook has more features and doesn't waste space on a tic-tac keyboard or use a proprietary format.[24]
It would seem then that even though Nook is cool, or cooler than Kindle, there is some danger in getting it and end up not being able to use it if things don't go well for BN.[8]
E Ink Co. plans on pushing out color screens with lower costs before long, and competitors to E Ink are joining into the fray fast. That may mean that the Kindle 2 and Nook only have a bubble of time before mobile phones start to invade their fledgling industry.[46] Though both offer a huge library of titles and wireless downloads, a few differences set the Nook apart. With its snazzy color touch screen that lets you navigate content or search via a virtual keyboard (which disappears when you'''re reading), the Nook has a more fun design that virtually screams, '''Come on, touch me.'''[41] In 2003, I began reading on my palm m500 (a monochrome LCD screen with very comfortable backlighting), using eReader software (the company B&N bought a few months back before giving ebooks another go).[40] Oh wow, yeah that would be huge, a subscription service would be killer for an ebook reader, and probably the first company to do one, will have the biggest upper hand, it would be like a commercial library and especially if they had textbooks, college students would immediately switch. Just like Video Games, the cost of Textbooks are very much influenced by the fact that students sell back their books, (Look at how much cheaper games are on services like steam, when you remove the invisible "Sell back tax", prices become much more reasonable).[40] If the amount saved with ebooks offset the cost of the reader for an average book worm after a year there would be a whole new layer of new users.[40]
I would say that so far it does not deliver the kind of in-depth learning needed to master a language. The social nertworking aspect of it is probably the best of its features and the one that has the most potential. I still believe that language learning books will play a big part in language learning for years to come, because they offer a more structured learning experience. Its important for authors of such books to adopt new learning methods, such as mnemonics (see e.g. http://www.arabicgenie.com ) to make language learnign easier.[7] The features Spring showed included dual-screen navigation, sharing books, and an Android base.[38]
I don't think Spring has a case. I think they're just trying to piggyback on the big splash the nook made in the market and get their name on everybody's lips. [29] If you would like your brand spelled consistently, never start in lower case. It always fails, because names like Nook start upper case.[24]
I now have to agree that the Nook should be capitalized, regardless of the fact that the device uses lower case in the labeling.[24] Not Nook. nook. I don't give a flying bag of rabbit turds about this device, but for some reason it just bothers me that so many tech blogs are getting it wrong when it's lower case on the device itself, the logo is a lower case n, and the nook official site refers to the device in the lower case.[24]
The devices look similar, but that's about it. I expect there's more to this than meets the eye. and I'm waiting for the nook to turn out to be a transformer. How are these companies able to get patents on stuff that is so simple anyone should be able to think of. That's Only slightly exaggerating but suing and capitalism greed, wall street should be getting on anyone's nerves. I agree with this to a degree.[24]
The article was woefully lacking in details, but I'm guessing the most likely thing going on here is that Spring thought they had an implied contract with B&N. I have trouble believing that any patent in this area that is less than 3 years old will stand up to scrutiny.[36] Via email Spring exec Eric Kmiec says the company still wants what it has always wanted from B&N: a "strategic relationship."[38] Spring says Lynch warned it not to work with Amazon (AMZN) because that company would "steal Spring's unique idea."[34] You have to admit that the two e-readers do look very similar and the timing of the two announcements was very close. It could be a major misunderstanding about the agreement between the companies earlier this year. It's not a stretch for BN to assume that what was discussed was for both company's benefit. It could be found that BN also shared ideas that are to be found in Alex.[11] • If you enjoyed Gordon Ramsay on Hell's Kitchen or Kitchen Nightmares, you'll be happy to know that he has another show coming to Fox, on which he will undoubtedly call people "donkeys." • For a good summary of the "physical books cannot be replaced, because I say so" argument that bedevils e-readers, check out this piece from the Boston Globe. • It feels like there have been thousands of articles just like this one about the process of writing headlines at The Onion, in which journalists convey the apparently surprising facts that (1) there is a process to comedy; (2) comedy is work; (3) people who have a wildly successful formula for success that has been successful for them for, say, 20 years or so tend to understand what that formula is; and (4) people who write comedy professionally obsess over it at a level you might not expect. Because, see, they do it professionally.[37] I do have a question concerning the consumption of e-books: is there a Zune Pass-esque way to purchase books from any e-book retailer? I feel that books ESPECIALLY apply to the 'consume once' aspect of media, and I don't think I'd like to buy each book at full-price for one-time use. That, more than anything, would convince me to get an e-reader. I would also buy this in a heart beat if you didn't have to spend so much on books with it. They really should make a Zune-Pass kind of thing for this.[40]
Two screens that open like a book, now that is an obvious use of multiple screens.[36]
On top of the coloured screen section is a larger column that displays the contents/texts of the desired book being read and the device has a screen which produces top grade E-ink display of crystal sharp texts and letters.[43] Sorry, but this whole 'e-book' stuff is just too out there for me. What they don't tell you about Kindle is- if you decide to gift a portion of your "ebook" to someone else- you cannot remove specific book reads to keep. Its all- inclusive malarkey the forget to tell ya. Hope this flops.[8] Why are you elevating a "paper-like reading experience" to a must-have status? I have read more than two dozen books using the Kindle software on my iPhone, and I don't know that I enjoy it any less than my wife does her Kindle. I do know that I have my books with me all the time, whereas she has to remember to bring the extra gadget along.[46] Non issue. 3) Refresh rate is a red herring. It takes less time to display a new page on my kindle dx then it does to turn a page on a normal hardcover book.[40] 'Baked In' Could Have Used More Time In The Oven Los Angeles Times Dan Neil doesn't think much of Alex Bogusky and John Winsor's new book about advertising. He feels it's short-winded (150 pages of large type), self-serving (why don't marketers realize that the ad guys are the smartest guys in the room?),.[19]
The Age of Consent Consumers may find it intrusive if not downright creepy, but marketers, under immense pressure to meet quarterly goals, depend on behavioral targeting to squeeze digital dollars out of dimes. The question is: Can it be done in such a way that is beneficial to everyone? DOA Q&A: Philip K. Dick At a time when the whole world feels like it's falling apart, who better to talk to than someone who suggested that might be the case? Church & State Can the news business survive once-sacred walls toppling? Work with me on this, because you, the reader, are an integral part of this story. I want you to pick up this magazine.[19] Integrated cell-based online shopping makes it a convenient, affordable, portable nirvana. Backlights Maybe it's not important to regular readers like you, but at least it's an surplus for many geeks like me, who during the working day hours DON'T have much time for casual readingyes that's the only thing ereaders are good at as of now. I will need to keep the entire room light up for some pre-bedtime readinghow lame is that? Hate booklights coz they bring intolerable flare and drains the battery super fast.[40]
Q+A Douglas Ferguson How will we consume media in five and 10 years' time? Ferguson: When everything is digitized and libraries offer materials, we will have access to anything and everything whenever we choose, at a trivial long-tail price. Q+A Lance Broumand How will get your news in a few years? Broumand: I think it's one page that looks a lot like what the Drudge Report looks like right now.[19] Apple'''s iPhone on the other hand does just about everything with the right application ''' except display text and images like paper. That'''s not stopping some people from using the iPhone as an ultra portable, multi-function reading device, but overall it doesn'''t solve the eyestrain issue.[46] There is a huge market for dedicated book-like devices. Trust me, when my 65 year old mother asks me which one to buy, like she did last week, mainstream acceptance is coming soon. I just want a smart, portable computer with an e-ink screen. (Okay, as long as I'm imagining this, an e-ink on one side and OLED on the other), aimed as a multi-purpose device (like today's smart phones) but _different_.[40] I haven't touched a book in years but have started reading again since I discovered Stanza on the iPhone, I find it perfectly comfortable due to the adjustable font sizes, contrast, etc and the best thing is that the device s always with me so I have it handy when in a queue, on the train.[46]
HIGHER-REFRESH RATES: Page turns are about as fast as turning the page of a physical book, and will likely be even faster in the next generation. While that may seem annoyingly slow to you as a tech person, it's not as egregious to paper book readers, especially since it's easy enough for readers (did I mention like my wife?) to predict when to instinctively "pre-click". that is, click the next page button about half-a-second before finishing reading the current page.[40]
Interestingly, I had purchased the Sony ebook reader last month and when the nook was announced, I promptly made a bee-line back and returned it and ordered the nook and I'm currently waiting for it show up early next month. I'm hopeful that this won't effect the distribution of this great reader.[39] Is that a Nook e-reader or a Nookie Reader? I think the latter is for x-rated stuff.[8] With the announcement of the nook, however, I'm getting pretty pumped about owning a e-reader, especially with two different screens (seems very useful).[40] Alex's screen is used for actual content (a real battery kiler) while the nook's screen is merely for navigation (a nice toy but completely unnecessary).[29] The Nook merely seems to have "reconfigurable" colored buttons. can't use that small screen for much else.[24] Who on earth is going to use a Nook as an MP3 player? Sure, the Nook is great for users who travel a lot, buy a lot of books, hate carrying paper, and have a lot of discretionary income.[40] Flurry reports an uptake in the amount of applications being designed for the iPhone that provide book content on the device. That part is less certain because measuring which apps users are accessing how frequently gets into some stickier privacy issues. Flurry shares that around 500,000 people use their applications more than 100 times per month but doesn'''t break that down in any specific fashion.[46]
The device is anticipated to be launched before month end, at a price of $259. Barnes and Nobles is already taking pre-orders via its website (www.nook.com).[43] I know the folks at B&N, and there is non way they would ever jeopardize the good name of Barnes & Noble.[8] The October 19th launch increasingly looks like a paper launch to pre-empt Barnes & Noble's handiwork.[5] Barnes & Noble, based in New York, said it does not comment on litigation as a matter of policy. Its shares rose 4 cents to $16.69 during afternoon trading.[3] A Barnes & Noble rep told CNET the company does not comment on litigation.[38] This is unbelievable. how can a Company as reputable as Barnes and Noble do something this heinous. What next, a fledgling songwriter will have his lyrics "borrowed" by the next great rap star.[36]
Usually the patent system is abused by those patent foundry companies turn out patents as their 'business model' to later troll up the real companies that do the innovation. It's good to finally see a story where a legitimate company that is trying to innovate a real product, might finally be able to use their patents to get a foot hold against what would otherwise be an impossible battle against a huge company. [36] Further complicating the issue is the fact that the people who grant patents and copyrights often know nothing of new technology and will grant a patent for a VERY broad idea. It simply stifles innovation by the companies who actually want to DO something with the technology. A good example is the company who is suing Twitter because they hold a patent for technology that can "alert many people at once through various means".[24]
Engadget brings up a good point in that the e-readers work differently. Right now, this is a spider web of complexities and unknowns and there probably will be a lot of lawyer talk and finger pointing before the day is done, so if you were waiting for the Nook, make sure you keep up with this story. [4] What good is a hook to a nook, if the nook makes cannot read the future. They can not do a cookbook on a nook, since they just got the hook. (apologies).[36] The Kindle and the Nook are cool. They fill a need, and if ebooks help encourage people to read more, even better.[40] One more reason why I'll more likely read an ebook on an iPhone or PC than a Kindle or Nook.[40]
You'll actually be able to test out the Nook in B&N stores, whereas you pretty much have to buy the Kindle sight unseen.[45] The reason I hesitate to get a Kindle is due to the closed eco-system of the Kindle system, which makes Amazon the gatekeeper in that case. My understanding is that such is not the case with BN's Nook.[8] Though the real reason I want the nook over the kindle is the ability to take the standard ereader, epub and pdf formats, which the kindle doesn't allow.[40]
I remember more than just 2 ereader products with android and dual screen, it cant be coincidence.[24] EVERY new product is prohibitively expensive when it first debuts. EVERY new product lacks certain features in the beginning that would make it more usable, mainly because adding them at the start would make it even more expensive.[40]
Instead of having multiple things to carry and multiple batteries to care for, it would all be part of the reader itself. Props to Sony for trying a sidelit reader, but their design undermined readability in all circumstances too much. Doing it on a phone that actually has a decent screen (both in size and DPI), such as the HTC HD, is not silly at all. [40] The device is a dual-screen, Android-based reader. It includes Internet browsing and a touch screen.[22]
A dual purpose device like that would be great; I would buy it in a heartbeat. if it had a whispernet 3G type of link to Amazon or B&N.[24] Amazon, BnN listen up. My wife can be described as a suburban mom, we have three kids, three dogs, etc. She has called the sony ereader (505 model i think) one of the best gifts I have given her. She used to read 2 novels a week made from trees, now shes all electronic. She also used to not like the idea of ereaders, but after she tried it she loved it.[40] A big corporation should not take advantage of small ones just because it can. I hope both entities can resolve their differences, because I really like the nook idea.[29]
Three weeks or so till the end of the month when the Nook is supposed to hit stores, and it is already the best selling item of all time in B&N'''s online store. [16]
SOURCES
1. Barnes & Noble sued over alleged ereader IP violations - FierceMobileContent
2. Nook-Niks | The Big Money
3. The Associated Press: Spring Design sues Barnes & Noble over e-reader
4. Barnes and Noble sued over dual-screened Nook e-reader
5. SemiAccurate :: Spring Design sues Barnes & Noble
6. Spring Design Sues Barnes and Noble Over Nook E-Reader
7. FT.com | Tech Blog | Alex v Nook, legal duel for dual-screen eReaders
8. Did Barnes & Noble steal a rival's design for the Nook e-reader? -- DailyFinance
9. Barnes & Noble Sued Over E-Reader -- E-Readers -- InformationWeek
10. Spring Design Sues Barnes & Noble; Claims Breach Of NDA | paidContent
11. Spring Design sues Barnes & Noble over Nook ''' Cell Phones & Mobile Device Technology News & Updates | Geek.com
12. UPDATE 1-Barnes & Noble sued by eReader maker Spring Design | Industries | Consumer Products & Retail | Reuters
13. Barnes & Noble sued over Nook ebook reader - Telegraph
14. Barnes & Noble nobbled for 'nicking' Nook-e Reader notion ''' The Register
15. E-Books Squabble, But They Don't Sell Out | NBC Bay Area
16. Spring Design Knocks Nook | Mobility Site
17. Spring Design reveal NDA details over B&N nook copy case - SlashGear
18. Spring Designs Sues B&N over Nook Design | The Money Times
19. MediaPost Publications - Home of MediaDailyNews, MEDIA and OMMA Magazines
20. iTWire - Barnes & Noble sued over e-reader
21. Barnes & Noble Sued over E-Reader - PC World
22. Barnes & Noble Sued Over Nook E-Reader - Reviews by PC Magazine
23. Barnes & Noble sued over Nook e-reader design | T3 magazine
24. Spring Design sues Barnes & Noble over the Nook
25. Legalbrief - Start-up sues Barnes & Noble
26. Start-up sues over Nook
27. Barnes & Noble sued over Nook e-reader
28. Rival eBook reader maker sues Barnes & Noble for allegedly copying eBook reader design | VentureBeat
29. Lawsuit Would Pull B&N Nook E-Reader From Market - Reviews by PC Magazine
30. Barnes and Noble sued over Nook intellectual property - Network World
31. Spring Design Alex vs Barnes & Noble Nook The War Of The eBook Readers Has Begun SoftSailor
32. Spring Design has filed a lawsuit against B. Dalton
33. Bookstore sued over new Android ebook | News | TechRadar UK
34. Spring Design Sues Barnes and Noble Over Nook E-Reader | Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD
35. Spring Design Sues Barnes And Noble Over Nook Design
36. Slashdot Your Rights Online Story | Spring Design Sues Barnes & Noble Over Nook IP
37. Morning Shots: Real Books, 'The Onion,' And A Barnes & Noble Lawsuit - Monkey See Blog : NPR
38. Spring Design Seeks Injunction Against Barnes & Noble Over E-Reader Tech | paidContent
39. Barnes and Noble Nook uses copyrighted technology, company says | csmonitor.com
40. Entelligence: Of ebooks and suburban moms
41. The Daily WD: Daily Buzz: Say Hello to the Nook
42. Barnes & Noble Touts Three-Prong Approach - 11/2/2009 - Publishers Weekly
43. For your reading pleasure
44. Barnes and Noble sued over Nook intellectual property - CIO.de
45. Amazon says sales of Kindle e-book surging - UAB Kaleidoscope
46. Nook and Kindle 2 safe for now, reading on an iPhone is painful - Tainted Green
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