Last week, on Dec. 2, 2021, Federal Judge Nicholas McHaffie awarded $277,400 in damages to Ark Innovation Technology Inc and Ark Platforms Inc (collectively “Ark”) as “damages arising from the infringement of copyright and passing off and the defendants’ profits made from the infringement of copyright.” (page 65, paragraph 6) Defendants were both Wing Chuen Lam, aka Vincent Lam, and his new venture Matidor Technologies Inc.
This concludes a two-year court battle between Ark and its former co-founder – Vincent Lam, who retained a copy of the software unauthorized when he resigned. He later used the copy to found a new software company called Matidor Technologies Inc., which was backed by a leading startup accelerator firm in the Summer of 2021 (YC S21). Federal Judge Nicholas McHaffie states that “I infer that the Matidor software continued to infringe after the June 2020 version [and] Mr. Lam’s infringement can be taken to be knowing and deliberate. I also have significant concerns with Mr. Lam’s conduct in presenting the infringing copies of Arkit as Matidor’s own product.” (Paragraph 52, 152)
Mr. McHaffie found that multiple case studies, an information sheet and a promotional video on top of the original Arkit Software were used by the defendant to create a new product and promote it on the market. That caused inevitable confusion on the marketplace, as on some occasions, the new product was referred to as a re-branded Arkit Software (now known as Fieldshare).
As the injunction states, apart from damages, Matidor and Vincent Lam are prohibited from further infringing the copyright of Ark for both the software and promotional materials.
Contact Ark Innovation Technology
Email: Hello@fieldshare.io
Sources:
Federal Court Decision, Ark Innovation Technology Inc. v. Matidor Technologies Inc: https://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fc-cf/decisions/en/item/516967/index.do?q=matidor
YCombinator, Matidor.com Listing: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/matidor-com
Source: https://www.newswire.com/news/venture-capital-backed-matidor-and-vincent-lam-found-liable-for-21573629
