Having previously filed multi-million dollars suits against Chinese knockoff brands, Beats is now suing one of its own — or at least someone who claims to be one of its own.
In a lawsuit filed late last week, Beats filed false advertising and unfair competition lawsuit against inventor Steve Lamar. Lamar has been involved with ongoing lawsuits with Beats regarding whether or not he can claim ownership of the brand after first bringing the idea of celebrity musical artist-endorsed headphones to Iovine.
Due to a previous settlement, Lamar can claim a 4 percent royalty on certain headphones produced under the Beats banner.
Lamar’s now moved on, however, and has started a new headphones company called ROAM. Letting bygones be bygones, right?
Wong, apparently, because Lamar’s still describing himself as a Beats “co-founder” — and that’s rubbed certain people up the wrong way.
“Defendants’ claims are false and misleading because Lamar is not a ‘co-founder’ of Beats Electronics, LLC,” reads the complaint. “He does not have — nor has he ever had — any ownership interest in the company. Moreover, Jibe Audio [once run by Lamar] was not responsible for the ‘concept, design, manufacturing and distribution’ of Beats’ headphones.”
Lamar has also apparently been tweeting or re-tweeting links which describe him as a “co-founder,” and has therefore has “perpetuated these inaccuracies” without taking “steps to inform the public that these statements were incorrect.”
In addition to resolving these issues and making a public statement, Lamar is being asked to pay Apple subsidiary profits and treble damages.
ROAM issued the following public statement:
This lawsuit is filled with erroneous and unsubstantiated claims. Steven Lamar’s role and significant contribution as a creator of the Beats by Dr. Dre brand and its headphone product line have been acknowledged for nearly a decade. This is the reason for his agreement to receive royalty payments from Beats.
Mr. Lamar does not claim to be a shareholder or employee in any “Beats” related businesses established after he, Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young settled their dispute in 2007. We look forward to an immediate and positive resolution to this matter.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
3 responses to “Apple sues headphone maker who claims to be Beats co-founder”
What a crock! Beats headphones are the biggest ripoff pieces of garbage anyway. Who cares!
Beats are awful!! I have a pair of 20£ seinheissers and they are so much better sound quality than a 300£ pair of Beats that I was given a a gift!!!!
Couldn’t agree more about the Sennheisers, but this isn’t about value or performance, it’s about sales. Very few companies are Apple’s equal when it comes to marketing, so it’s easy to see why Beats seems to be such a good fit. We’ll have to wait and see if Apple will be as demanding of the quality of Beats are they are of their own brand.
But it will still be difficult to create ANY headphones that merit the price Beats charges.