A month ago, Israeli tech firm Eko filed a lawsuit against mobile content company Quibi claiming a patent infringement.
Led by music artist and CEO Yoni Bloch, Eko alleges that Quibi stole the Turnstyle technology that enables viewers to watch content in portrait or landscape mode by simply turning the cellphone in a vertical or horizontal position.
The initial claim was made in March. Now, Eko has added Katzenberg and Quibi employees to the suit as defendants in an amended complaint that calls for a breach of contract, which most likely involves a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement.
An investment meeting with Bloch and Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg was held in 2017. In the meeting, Bloch revealed the details about the Turnstyle technology and offered up several coders with knowledge of the technology who would later become Quibi employees.
Before Bloch knew it, Katzenberg and chief executive Meg Whitman had revealed a similar model at a conference. Quibi opposes the lawsuit, which is being presided over by Judge John A. Kronstadt, and maintains that the technology was invented in-house.
“Our Turnstyle technology was developed internally at Quibi by our talented engineers and we have, in fact, received a patent for it,” Quibi said in a statement. “These claims have absolutely no merit and we will vigorously defend ourselves against them in court.”
