Just in case you've been wondering what has been happening in the Research In Motion vs. Kik Interactive legal proceedings we've got some new to share with you all. We've learned from David Lam that Kik Interactive has now filed their Statement of Defence and Counterclaim yesterday at some point. As you may remember, the filed documentation from Research In Motion (PDF) alleged that Kik Interactive CEO, Ted Livingstone while working at Research In Motion had access to sensitive Blackberry Messenger information. As such, the documentation goes on to allege that Ted used his position at Research In Motion to learn things about BlackBerry Messenger, which would later be used within the inner workings of Kik.
In their Statement of Defence and Counterclaim (PDF) Kik goes on to deny these allegations by stating in fact they were not developing Kik at the time of Livingstone’s employment at Research In Motion nor did they infringe upon any of Research In Motions trademarks or patents. They also make sure to point out that at the time, Livingstone had no access to the BlackBerry Messenger source code not any of Research In Motions development plans, market research, and other internal reports related to BlackBerry Messenger.
In the end, Kik Interactive claims the “overnight success of Kik Messenger” put Research In Motion execs on a mission to destroy or seriously harm Kiks reputation by abandoning previously set agreements such as those outlined in the BlackBerry App Word vendor portal and various other arrangements involving developer relations with Research In Motion. Kik claims the suspension and eventual removal of Kik from BlackBerry App World was nothing more just then beginning of a lawsuit, which Research In Motion knows, is meritless and has no real chance of success.
As with most legal cases, we'll not likely find out anything else until after the dust settles but again, like most legal cases that's where all the truth tends to come out from both parties and then we get the real story behind all the legal covering and paperwork. Either way, looking back at the situation we understand both parties’ situations. But surely somewhere along that line there has to be a happy medium between the two. Kik is doing well on other platforms and not having it available on the platform it initially launched with just seems wrong. Who knows? Maybe Kik working with Research In Motion on certain elements would be a good thing all around for both parties.
Source: David Lam Law Blog
