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Sprinklr, the $1.8 billion social media management startup, is being sued by Portland, Oregon-based Opal Labs, which claims Sprinklr stole intellectual property.
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The lawsuit alleges that one of Sprinklr's employees fraudulently used an Opal employee account to view confidential information about Opal's marketing software.
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Opal is seeking $50 million in damages from Sprinklr.
Sprinklr, a New York startup whose technology helps corporate customer service representatives monitor social media interactions, is facing a lawsuit over a broken partnership.
Opal Labs, a marketing technology company based in Portland, Oregon, is suing Sprinklr for $50 million, alleging that Sprinklr stole its intellectual property. The lawsuit was filed in Oregon's Multnomah County Circuit Court on September 7, but was not widely publicized until this week.
“In an effort to extend its dominance into the field of marketing collaboration software and related services, [Sprinklr] attack and destroy Opal,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by Business Insider, alleges that Paul Herman, an employee of one of Opal's customers, allegedly passed administrative credentials to a Sprinklr employee. This explains how the nature of the partnership has changed. . Sprinklr employees used these credentials to log into Opal's systems and view confidential information about Opal's software, the complaint charges.
Opal alleges in its lawsuit that Sprinklr is developing a marketing product similar to its own and could not have created it without looking into Opal's systems.
Herman left his job as program director at Nike in February 2017 and joined Sprinkler as a full-time employee, according to his LinkedIn profile. Currently, he serves as Vice President of Sprinklr's Product and Solutions Enablement Group.
Sprinkler, which raised $105 million last year at a valuation of $1.8 billion, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The company's customers include Nike and McDonald's.
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