Quibi is still facing a lawsuit despite yesterday’s announcement that the video service is shutting down. The interactive video firm Eko filed a lawsuit earlier this spring accusing Quibi of stealing technology, including the Turnstyle feature which allows users to flip their phone from vertical to horizontal and have the video adjust to fit the screen. A judge dismissed nine of the claims but left the core complaint in place.
The lawsuit states that “Quibi ignored Eko’s warnings and Quibi secretly misappropriated Eko’s proprietary technology” and that “It hid its theft until making a massive public splash in a keynote address at the January 2020 Consumer Electronics Show… proclaiming it as Quibi’s own ‘Turnstyle’ technology.”
Now that co-founders Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman announced the streamer is shutting down, Eko says their plans haven’t changed in pursuing the lawsuit.
“We have put Quibi on notice that it cannot simply wind down its business, send its investors hundreds of millions of dollars and sell its stolen technology to a third party without first resolving its issues with Eko. We intend to vigorously pursue Eko’s rights to ensure that Quibi does not exacerbate the harm it has already caused.”
Quibi launched in April as a mobile-only streaming service, at a time when promoting a service meant to be used on a phone while out and about, was tougher than usual. The service made attempts to pivot by allowing users to cast content onto TVs and just this week adding support for Apple TV, Android TV, and Fire TV.