Barnes & Noble loses bid to end Nook lawsuit
(Reuters) - Barnes & Noble Inc (BKS.N) failed to win dismissal of Spring Design Inc's lawsuit accusing the largest U.S. bookseller of illegally copying its dual-display design for its Nook electronic book reader.
Context & Ripple Effects
Barnes & Noble enters this courtroom fight from strength: reviewers assessed the Android-based [[a:none|Nook Color]] in October and November 2010, and the company has gone from no presence to a reported 20 percent of the e-book market within about a year of the Nook's debut. The hardware line is the engine of that digital push.
The obstacle is Spring Design Inc, whose confirmed complaint accuses Barnes & Noble of illegally copying its dual-display design — the split-screen layout that distinguished the original Nook. By failing to win dismissal of the lawsuit, the bookseller keeps the dispute alive at the exact moment its e-reader franchise carries its e-book ambitions.
First-order effects
- Spring Design's infringement case proceeds past the dismissal stage, meaning Barnes & Noble must fund a full litigation defense around the dual-screen design of its best-selling hardware.
Second-order effects
- Every rumored next-generation Nook under development in 2010 — the codenamed Project Encore and a Wi-Fi-only Nook Lite were both unconfirmed reports — now carries added design-approval risk if it iterates on the contested dual-display concept.
Third-order effects
- If a small design firm's claim against a retail giant sticks, hardware IP litigation becomes a standing cost of booksellers building their own devices rather than licensing proven designs.
The trend: As retailers like Barnes & Noble turn into consumer-hardware makers to protect their content businesses, design-copying lawsuits from smaller inventors are becoming part of the competitive playbook.