While everyone was at least trying to watch Apple’s big iPhone 6 and Apple Watch announcement Tuesday afternoon, Snapchat dropped the news that the company had settled a lawsuit pertaining to the ownership of the loftily-valued ephemeral messaging app.
Literally, at the exact time – 1 pm EST. I think we can all just assume that’s a coincidence, right?
In it, Snapchat says that it has come to an undisclosed agreement with Reggie Brown, a former college buddy of Snapchat co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy who claimed they took his idea and shut him out of the company.
Brown alleged the three moved in together (while attending Stanford) and worked on the app in the summer of 2011. He also claims is was he who came up with the app’s original named (Picaboo) and logo (the little ghost). Apparently, after some sort of falling out, Murphy and Spiegel locked him out of all their accounts and servers.
Snapchat vehemently denied this back in February of 2013, when the lawsuit was first filed.
Now, some acknowledgment of Brown’s role in the early days of the app. Here’s what the press release says:
Reggie Brown originally came up with the idea of creating an application for sending disappearing picture messages while he was a student at Stanford University. He then collaborated with Spiegel and Murphy on the development of Snapchat during its early and most formative days.
It also contains a statement from Evan Spiegel, who says,
“We are pleased that we have been able to resolve this matter in a manner that is satisfactory to Mr. Brown and the Company. We acknowledge Reggie’s contribution to the creation of Snapchat and appreciate his work in getting the application off the ground.”
Thanks for helping, but this isn’t your company, basically.
Though the details of the settlement are confidential, it’s probably safe to assume that Brown got something out of it – monetarily that is. It’s doubtful however, that he got enough to compensate for not being a stakeholder in the supposed $10 billion company. At least, that’s what people are saying.
Image via Snapchat, Twitter
