California Case Update

Status
Not open for further replies.
My main questions over the settlement were would KAM retain control and would fault be found with either side. Kier has clearly and unequivocally announced the XenForo remain the property of KAM and is in no way associated with Internet Brands. (emphasis added by myself)...

Kier Darby said:
Be assured that the three of us remain absolutely committed to and involved in XenForo's present and future success, and expect to become more active in the community once again.

XenForo Ltd. is neither owned by in whole or in part, nor affiliated with Internet Brands inc. or it's subsidiaries.

XenForo Ltd. continues to work for the benefit of its directors; Kier, Mike and Ashley, and its customers. What you see is what you get.
Click to expand...


...so my first question has been answered fully and completely by Kier.

On the face of it, it would seem that due to the confidential nature of the settlement my second question will never be answered. However XenForo's lawyers have put a pretty bold statement up on their website...

Source: http://gracelaw.com/NewsXF.html

Grace & Grace LLP said:
Grace+Grace LLP, a Southern California law firm of intellectual property trial attorneys, has secured an important victory for its clients XenForo Limited and founders Ashley Busby, Kier Darby, and Michael Sullivan in their long-running dispute with Internet Brands, Inc. and its vBulletin software subsidiaries.

After more than two years of litigation before a Los Angeles federal court and the English High Court of Justice in London, England, the parties have reached a confidential settlement agreement dismissing all of vBulletin Solutions, Inc.’s and Jelsoft Enterprises Limited’s claims.

Lead trial attorney, Michael Grace, stated, “We are pleased that the last litigation cloud has been lifted, so that XenForo can focus all of its resources on enhancing the features and functions of XenForo software. The Internet Brands litigations failed because of XenForo’s loyal customers, who supported XenForo’s dedicated, independent software development efforts over the past three years.”

Mr. Grace continued, “Today is a victory for competition in the marketplace. We’re delighted to have helped a small company like XenForo successfully defend itself and remain independent. The talented developers created XenForo software from scratch and have earned the chance to sell their software in the marketplace without further threats or false allegations. We believe that XenForo has a very bright future.”
Click to expand...


It seems that a layperson like Kier was able to make an announcement without giving anything major away (other than the fact that KAM retained full control of XenForo which was probably not confidential anyway) but the professionals at the law firm have let a few cats out of the bag. I can understand them being happy to have defeated a behemoth like IB but it would seem that in their excitement they have given the game away.

The statement clearly states that all of IB's subsidiaries claims against XenForo Ltd were dismissed. The statement also clearly states that XenForo was built from scratch without any VB/Jelsoft code. The statement even makes a provocative statement aimed at IB implicating them of threatening behaviour and false allegations.

It seems quite clear that IB were unable to show any proof that XenForo had stolen or reused code from VB/Jelsoft software. It's also obvious that IB were aware that all their claims were thought by the courts to be without basis and of a false/malicious nature. And so IB agreed to settle with XenForo rather than lose the case at the trial stage where their embarrassment would be made public.

The only thing we don't know is what XenForo accepted in order to settle. It was either IB paying XenForo's legal costs or IB paying Xenforo's legal costs + compensation or (and most likely) IB agreed to drop all action in every jurisdiction against XenForo and to not come back and sue them again but each party pays it's own costs.I always thought that IB had maliciously taken XenForo to court for building a better software and now XenForo's lawyers have confirmed it.

VB5 must be Karma paying IB a visit.
 
Now that the law suit is over, I hope this allows some old faces from the Jelsoft team to officially come on board of the XenForo team.

XF probably needs a larger team if it wants to compete with full featured software like IPS, vb, PHPFox, etc. and if it wants to stay modern after its 2010 release.
 
Alfa1 said:
Now that the law suit is over, I hope this allows some old faces from the Jelsoft team to officially come on board of the XenForo team.

XF probably needs a larger team if it wants to compete with full featured software like IPS, vb, PHPFox, etc. and if it wants to stay modern after its 2010 release.
Click to expand...
XenForo's primary focus has and hopefully mainly will be producing the best forum platform available. It shouldn't necessarily want to be in a hurry to introduce a load of bloat to their product. At least not until they're happy with the forum product.
 
Alfa1 said:
Now that the law suit is over, I hope this allows some old faces from the Jelsoft team to officially come on board of the XenForo team.

XF probably needs a larger team if it wants to compete with full featured software like IPS, vb, PHPFox, etc. and if it wants to stay modern after its 2010 release.
Click to expand...
More developers doesn't mean better software. ;) XF is designed to be able to be developed quickly and efficiently. After all, the time between 1.0 and 1.1 was less than a year. I can see that trend continuing even faster without the weight of a lawsuit on their heads and taking time to deal with.
 
EliasAlucard said:
Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum, but I'm the owner of ForumBiodiversity and I'm here to show my support to XenForo:

http://www.forumbiodiversity.com/showthread.php/40571-XenForo-victory-over-vBulletin!

^^ In that thread, I've written down the feedback about the two important plugins I want converted to XenForo, before I'll start converting my forum to XenForo.

Keep up the good work guys!
Click to expand...

Site's not loading properly... apparently I'm behind a proxy... but I'm not.
 
Alfa1 said:
Now that the law suit is over, I hope this allows some old faces from the Jelsoft team to officially come on board of the XenForo team.

XF probably needs a larger team if it wants to compete with full featured software like IPS, vb, PHPFox, etc. and if it wants to stay modern after its 2010 release.
Click to expand...

Two good and dedicated developers are better than 10 mediocore developers who just do their job becaurse they have to. Also in large companies the decision chain if often long and slow, and the ones in charge of it all, often dont have a clue about the product or what the custtomores really need and want - they are simply out of touch with reality.

Here the owners are also the developers and the once in charge, and they are also in direct contact with its customors and use their own product.

But if they can find the right person and it will result in faster development while maintaining the same quality im all for it
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom