Essential Sued Over Alleged Stolen Modular Accessory Technology

A lot of phones in this day and age don’t necessarily use technology that is 100% their own. This is because it would be impossible for a single company to own all the pieces of technology inside of a phone, which is why many companies have opted to license patents and ideas from other companies who might specialize in certain technologies.

Unfortunately from time to time you do get companies who run afoul of this, and Andy Rubin’s Essential is the latest to land themselves in some legal hot water. The company has been sued by a company called Keyssa who has Nest’s Tony Fadell as one of its backers. They are claiming that Essential had allegedly stolen trade secrets with regards to a modular piece of technology found in the phone.

For those wondering, the Essential Phone comes with a wireless connector that it uses to communicate with a camera accessory that was released around the same time. Keyssa claims that they had been in talks with the company for 10 months before Essential decided to use a competing chip from another company. However Keyssa says that despite that, the end design incorporates techniques that were developed by Keyssa.

In a statement made to Reuters, Keyssa says, “Keyssa has not been compensated for Essential’s use of this guidance and know-how. We are pursuing this action because our attempts to resolve this matter through discussions with Essential have not been successful.” On Essential’s end, they claim to have not yet been officially served the lawsuit and cannot comment on it yet.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Essential, Legal, Social Hit