Jawbone wants Fitbit’s blood in court

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Jawbone wants Fitbit's blood. Photo: Jawbone
Jawbone wants Fitbit's blood. Photo: Jawbone

Once, Jawbone was king of the fitness tracking set. Then, after a series of missteps and disastrous, half-baked product launches, Jawbone’s popularity waned in favor of Fitbit.

Now, of course, the Apple Watch rules the roost, but Jawbone and Fitbit are still at war… and Jawbone just dragged it all into the courts.

According to a new lawsuit filed by Jawbone in California State Court, Fitbit is accused of “systematically plundering” its confidential data. How? By poaching employees.

Jawbone contends that the legal case “arises out of the clandestine efforts of Fitbit to steal talent, trade secrets and intellectual property from its chief competitor.” They say Fitbit tried to poach up to one-third of Jawbone’s workers over the last few years.

Not all those employees left, of course. But some did, and those who did are accused of having passed on Jawbone’s future product and business plans. Jawbone even goes as far as to say they covered their tracks, even going as far as to delete the system logs of their transgressions.

Fitbit has not yet responded to the accusations. We’ll have to see how the verdict goes, but personally, this seems like a lot of ugliness to win a race Apple was destined to dominate from the start.

Source: New York Times

Via: Slashgear

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