Andre Yoskowitz
3 Dec 2009 11:13
Last month, e-reader maker Spring Designs sued Barnes & Nobles over breach of contract and infringement, claiming that off-the-record meetings led B&N to create their Nook device based off ideas for SD's Alex e-reader.
Today, a San Jose court dismissed SD's request for a preliminary injunction, meaning the Nook is free to be sold as planned. The judge said the suit did not show clearly that the Nook was damaging sales of the Alex, and that there is a "genuine dispute" as to whether B&N stole any of SD's ideas in the first place.
There is no date for the actual trial but pre-trial hearings are expected to be quick. It is notable that both devices have two screens (one black and white e-paper and one smaller color touchscreen) and both are based on the Android operating system.