Ooyala sues Brightcove claiming ‘misappropriation of trade secrets’

Video technology provider Ooyala has filed a lawsuit against rival Brightcove, alleging “deliberate and willful misappropriation of proprietary trade secrets”.

The suit accuses Brightcove of using customer contact lists, confidential sales pitches and pricing, marketing plans and corporate strategies to “undermine and exploit Ooyala’s business dealings and sales efforts” throughout Latin America.

Ooyala said in a statement that it is seeking an injunction in a Boston federal court to stop Brightcove’s misappropriation of trade secrets, and is asking Brightcove and the named employees in the case to “return all proprietary materials and destroy all customer information”.

The complaint, which was filed at the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, named Brightcove and two former Ooyala employees, who now work at Brightcove –Darío Pérez Real, and Raúl Francisco García Domíngue – as defendants in the case.

“In the final three months of Defendant Perez’s employment as a senior sales executive at Ooyala, and while he was being courted to join Ooyala’s direct competitor Brightcove, Perez surreptitiously sent to Brightcove a wealth of Ooyala’s confidential and trade secret information,” alleged Ooyala in the filing.

It claimed that this information included contact information for current and prospective clients, specific fees and prices for clients, customised client specifications, expiration and renewal dates for customer contracts, Salesforce reports containing prospective client intelligence and market analysis, communications with clients, and meeting dates with prospective and existing clients.

“The misappropriation of trade secrets was coordinated by defendant Garcia, a former vice president of Ooyala and current head of Brightcove’s Latin America division,” the filing claimed.

In a statement sent to Digital TV Europe, Brightcove rejected the allegations and claimed that the lawsuit is “entirely without merit”.

“We are aware of Ooyala’s assertions concerning the alleged misappropriation of trade secrets. When first alerted to these assertions by Ooyala, we reviewed them in good faith and reached out to Ooyala in an effort to address its concerns,” said a spokesperson for Brightcove.

“Ooyala disengaged from that conversation and then filed this suit. Brightcove believes that this lawsuit is entirely without merit. We are working to resolve the matter, which is narrowly focused on a particular region and does not concern our products, services or technology.”