In the fight to create the best pair of truly wireless earbuds you can definitely find some fierce competitors with amazing new technology. One standout brand, Doppler Labs – who raised $50 million towards their product – claims BOSE stole their revolutionary tech and is now marketing it as their own, according to Boston Business Journal.
Bose Facing Lawsuit From Doppler Labs, Makers of Truly Wireless Earbuds
The stolen tech in question is surrounding Doppler’s Here Active Listening system. This feature allows users of the truly wireless earbuds to tune out selected specific sounds in their environment for a truly unique listening experience.
As an excerpt from the suit explains, Doppler Labs was duped into sharing their very sensitive information with Bose who expressed “misleading enthusiasm” in partnering up. As the story goes, after Doppler Labs launched on Kickstarter June 2015, Bose Senior Manager of Idea & Portfolio Management Chris Miller backed the campaign with enough funding to receive a pair of buds. When Doppler began looking for partners Bose reportedly expressed interest and participated in a few meetings with the company in 2016. Doppler claims Bose’s line of QC 30 Wireless Headphones, rebranded as Hearphones, was “modified… to include the design and function of Doppler Labs’ award winning Here Active Listening system, Here One listening system, Here Buds wireless earbuds, and companion mobile application.”
Here’s a look inside the suit filed by Doppler Labs against Bose:
On information and belief, Bose engaged in this dialogue with misleading enthusiasm not backed by actual good faith intent. With this improperly gained information in hand, Bose appears to have now modified its existing in-ear product line (QC 30 Wireless Headphones) to include the design and function of Doppler Labs’ award winning Here Active Listening system, Here One listening system, Here Buds wireless earbuds, and companion mobile application. In doing so, on information and belief, Bose mislead Doppler Labs as to the state of Bose’s own product development while absorbing Doppler Labs’ technology, such as, the specific ways in which Doppler Labs implements its proprietary Real World Sound Control technology.
As BBJ explains, Doppler Labs is also demanding Bose to send customers a “formal retraction” via email, direct-mail campaign and full-page ads “in the appropriate publications.”
