Two leading content delivery network (CDN) players this week began
trading jabs in a heated legal battle in which both companies have
filed suit against the other.
Akamai Technologies has filed suit in California Superior Court
seeking an injunction against competitor Speedera Networks. Akamai
alleges that Speedera co-founder and chief technical officer
Richard Day stole Akamai trade secrets from a protected database
maintained by Keynote Systems. Akamai is a customer of Keynote,
which provides Web site measurement and testing services.
The data maintained by Keynote includes Akamai customer prospects
and other related marketing and technical information, according to
Akamai spokesman Jeff Young.
"That is data we would not want available to our competition," he
said.
Akamai alleges that Speedera on at least 33 different occasions
since February this year broke into a secure computer database and
obtained private Akamai data.
The suit states that Day, using a DSL line from his home, broke
into a log-in-protected area of Keynote Systems. The suit continues
to state that Day "illegally accessed, stole, and used Akamai's
confidential information and data to enable Speedera to compete
unfairly and wrongfully against Akamai."
Speedera, also a Keynote customer, counters that data available
from Keynote is not proprietary or confidential, said Gordon Smith,
vice-president of marketing at Speedera.
"We think [Akamai's] complaint is totally unfounded," Smith said.
"The terms of the licensing agreement between Keynote and its
customers make clear the data belongs to Keynote, and the customer
relinquishes any claim to that data being proprietary."
"So whatever information they are alleging we've obtained is
certainly not proprietary or privileged," he said.
A hearing on Akamai's application for a temporary restraining order
is scheduled to take place this week in San Francisco Superior
Court.
Speedera officials confirmed that the FBI searched Speedera's
offices on Monday, removing documents and computer files related to
a sealed affidavit filed by Akamai.
Speedera responded to Akamai's claims on Tuesday (25 June 2002)
with a lawsuit of its own, alleging unfair competition, false
advertising, trade libel, and intentional interference with
business advantage.
The claim, filed in the US District Court in San Jose, California,
seeks unspecified actual and punitive damages as well as an
injunction against Akamai for making false statements about
Speedera's financial condition and false statements about the
performance of Speedera's content delivery services, according to
Speedera officials.
According to Smith, Akamai has misrepresented Speedera's financial
situation, its customer base, how Speedera's technology works, and
the performance of its service. Specifically, Smith referred to a
competitive analysis document created Akamai.
"We have seen these misrepresentations in documents they have
distributed not only internally but also outside the company,"
Smith said. "That competitive analysis document makes an astounding
number of totally false assertions."
In addition to this week's legal haranguing, Akamai is also
embroiled in patent infringement litigation against Speedera and
another competitor, Cable and Wireless. Akamai filed its patent
infringement lawsuit against Speedera in February.
"This is a multi-front war," Speedera's Smith said.