Barnes & Noble settles with Spring Design, pays lump royalty
updated 10:45 am EST, Wed March 2, 2011
Barnes & Noble to pay Spring Design for Nook idea
Barnes & Noble on Wednesday decided to reach a settlement with Spring Design and avoid a trial over claims it stole the design of the Alex e-reader for the Nook. Under the deal, Barnes & Noble will pay an unspecified royalty amount up front but will otherwise have a royalty-free license for all of Spring Design's patents. The exact payout was kept secret.
The bookstore's General Counsel Eugene DeFelice was brief and said Barnes & Noble was glad to "put this matter behind us" as well as to have legal rights to use Spring Design's technology.
While the reasons for avoiding a trial weren't specified, Spring Design's version of events directly accused Barnes & Noble of abusing its connection to steal ideas. According to the interpretation, the two companies were in design meetings that were to see the dual-screened Alex design eventually become the Nook. Rather than license it or use the design directly, though, Barnes & Noble allegedly just copied the idea with the Nook and ignored Spring Design patents dating back to 2006.
Barnes & Noble may have been pressured into a settlement after it lost a dismissal motion and was faced with a trial it would likely lose and which could have risked at least a temporary ban on Nook sales during the trial.
The Nook Color may not be directly covered by the patents at stake since it uses a single-screen LCD and very few hardware controls.
