Jawbone Parts Ways With Law Firm Representing It Against Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT)

Fitbit Inc

Court filings have revealed that the law firm that had been representing Jawbone in legal battles with Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT) has withdrawn its services for three cases that are pending. Some of the court filings were released this week while others were released last week.

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In the filings, the law firm indicated that it will still offer Jawbone its services for 60 days while the wearables firm sought alternative representation. Susman Godfrey LLP, the law firm, did not reveal the reason why it quit except mentioning that professional considerations had necessitated the development. Both the law firm and Jawbone refused to comment further.

Patent dispute

However, there were two cases involving Jawbone and Fitbit that the law firm did not quit and it is still unclear whether Susman Godfrey will continue representing the wearables maker. One of the cases involves a lawsuit Jawbone filed accusing Fitbit of patent infringement.

Jawbone’s and Fitbit’s legal battles have been going on for years now and the disputes have mostly revolved around trade secrets and patents. In December last year, Fitbit withdrew one of its lawsuits against Jawbone which had been seeking to ban Jawbone imports into the United States. Jawbone, had, however, already halted the sale of products by then.

Customer service

This is not the first time that Jawbone is parting ways with a service provider. In September last year, the wearables company severed ties with NexRep, a customer service agency. Sources said that the move was as a result of Jawbone’s inability to make payments for services rendered. Jawbone meanwhile said it was involved in a bill review exercise with a view to restricting the customer service process. Reports received since then have indicated that the company’s customer service is in shambles with numerous customer service requests going unfulfilled. The company’s social media pages are full of customer complaints.

The financial troubles at Jawbone has seen the wearables company halt the production and the selling of its fitness trackers as it waits for funding.

On Wednesday shares of Fitbit rose by 2.89% to close the day at $5.70.

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