Carlsbad Company Suing Facebook

by The Editors on March 21, 2012

27871 Sambreel-LogoSambreel, Carlsbad based social media company, has filed an antitrust lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California lawsuit against Facebook for unfair competition and interference with contract.

“We believe that Facebook engaged in a pattern of anticompetitive behavior in order to drive a competitor out of the market,” says Arie Trouw, CEO and President of Sambreel. “Although we attempted to work with Facebook to address each other’s concerns, those discussions did not progress, so we are moving forward with litigation. In addition to violating the law, we think Facebook’s actions — particularly its gating — violate its own first guiding principle: ‘People should have the freedom to share whatever information they want, in any medium and any format, and have the right to connect online with anyone — any person, organization or service — as long as they both consent to the connection (http://www.facebook.com/principles.php).'”

According to a story on the Courthouse New Service, Sambreel “offered a product known as PageRage, which challenged Facebook for sale of Internet display ads through the web browser add-on platform Yontoo.” For the rest of Sambreel’s side of the story, follow the jump.Social Media App Maker Sambreel Sues Facebook for Antitrust Violations

CARLSBAD, CA– Sambreel Holdings LLC, represented by law firm Kotchen & Low LLP, has filed a lawsuit against Facebook for alleged violations of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and California state laws prohibiting unfair competition and interference with contract. Sambreel, a leading developer and publisher of social media and other web applications, filed the antitrust lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California (Case 3:12-cv-00668-W-KSC).

In addition, Kotchen & Low LLP also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent Facebook from forcing Sambreel’s advertising partners to boycott Sambreel and to prevent Facebook from “gating” — i.e., scanning its own users’ computers without the users’ consent to track who downloaded a Sambreel application and then forcing those individuals to uninstall Sambreel’s application before they are allowed access to their Facebook accounts.

Arie Trouw, CEO and President of Sambreel, made the following statement about the lawsuit: “We believe that Facebook engaged in a pattern of anticompetitive behavior in order to drive a competitor out of the market. Although we attempted to work with Facebook to address each other’s concerns, those discussions did not progress, so we are moving forward with litigation. In addition to violating the law, we think Facebook’s actions — particularly its gating — violate its own first guiding principle: ‘People should have the freedom to share whatever information they want, in any medium and any format, and have the right to connect online with anyone — any person, organization or service — as long as they both consent to the connection (http://www.facebook.com/principles.php).'”;
A copy of the lawsuit is available at http://www.kotchen.com/Sambreel-v-Facebook.

About Sambreel Holdings LLC
Based in Carlsbad, Calif., Sambreel Holdings LLC is a leading developer and publisher of social media and web applications used by tens of millions of people around the world. Sambreel’s most popular application is a browser add-on called PageRage, which allows users to create customized layouts that appear on the browser when the user accesses the Facebook website.

For more information about Sambreel, visit www.sambreel.com, email pr@sambreel.com, or call (760) 600-5570.

About Kotchen & Low LLP
Kotchen & Low LLP is a law firm based in Washington, D.C. that specializes in complex commercial litigation in federal and state court. Kotchen & Low LLP has a particular expertise in matters arising under the federal antitrust laws, and it is currently representing a number of clients in antitrust matters.

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