Battle of the Kiddie Tabs: Nabi Maker Sues Toys R Us Over “Copycat” Tabeo Tablet
In an interesting bit of news, the battle of the kiddie tabs is underway in San Diego where a lawsuit was filed today by the makers of the Nabi tablet — a kid-friendly Android tablet for the whole family. Turns out Nabi tab creator Fuhu is suing Toys R Us for allegedly stealing “trade secrets,” which they then used to (allegedly) release the Tabeo — Toys R Us’ new kid-friendly tab on the block.
The drama began after Toys R Us agreed to become the exclusive retailer of the Nabi tablet back in October of last year (which we covered here), only Fuhu felt Toys R Us not only did little to promote the tablet, but barely ordered enough of the tabs for a single day’s sell-though (vs the entire holiday season). Fuhu was left scratching their heads as to what heppened, only later to learn that Toys R Us was releasing their own kiddie tab called the Tabeo to be sold exclusively at their retail stores across the country.
Fuhu is now asking Toys R Us for monetary damages due to a failed holiday season launch, as well as the courts to step in and ban the Tabeo from sale (currently only available for pre-order). In the complaint, Fuhu accuses Toys R Us of your typical wrong doing — fraud, breach of contract, etc. — but also goes on to claim that Toys R Us stole the look of their (un-patented) “butterfly” bumper when designing their own Tabeo. Hmmmm.. where have I heard this before? In the legal paperwork, Fuhu said,
“Toys R Us used Fuhu’s trade secrets and confidential information to start selling Tabeo, which systematically attempts to replicate the Nabi experience, far earlier than Toys r Us could have done otherwise, if at all.”
Recently, Fuhu released the Nabi 2, the Nvidia Tegra 3 packing, Ice Cream Sandwich running follow up to the original Nabi tab. The Nabi 2 is currently available from retailers like Walmart, Best Buy and Amazon for only $200.
[Reuters]