Don’t Be Evil Stupid
by John Paczkowski
Posted on June 25, 2008 at 1:08 PM PT
Google’s facing another billion dollar lawsuit–and, whaddaya know, it’s not from Viacom. It’s from LimitNone, a small software developer that claims Google’s (GOOG) Email Uploader tool copies the look, feel, functionality and distribution model of its gMove application.
The gMove app exports email, contacts and calendar information stored in Microsoft (MSFT) Outlook to Google’s online services. LimitNone apparently developed it with Google’s help and the understanding that the company had no intention of offering a competing product. But at some point, Google changed its mind. And it built Google Email Uploader–allegedly using LimitNone’s trade secrets. “Google claims its core philosophy is ‘Don’t be evil’ but, simply put, they invited us to work with them, to trust them–and then stole our technology,” said LimitNone’s CEO, Ray Glassmann.
A harsh accusation. And likely a tough one to prove. LimitNone never bothered to patent gMove. And beyond that, it’s hard to believe Google is so lacking in engineering resources and expertise that it would purloin an email migration tool.
