Barnes & Noble/Spring Design settle lawsuit over Nook feature

Yahoo! Finance: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - Barnes & Noble Inc has settled a lawsuit brought against it by Spring Design, which had accused the top U.S. bookseller of illegally copying a screen design for its popular Nook electronic book reader. Under terms of the agreement, Spring is granting Barnes & Noble a non-exclusive license for all of its patents and patent applications. Other terms of the settlement were not disclosed."

RIP, Alex eReader

RIP, Alex eReader: "The Spring Design Alex eReader is dead. The Android-powered dual-screen device is no longer in stock and production on new units has ceased. Company officials claim the investor has pulled funding."

Spring Design Suit Against B&N Goes Forward

PWxyz: "The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has declined to dismiss a lawsuit filed against Barnes & Noble that claims the bookseller stole the design of the original Nook digital reading device. U.S. District Court Judge James Ware ruled that Spring Design, which produces the Alex eReader, a dual screen digital reader much like the original Nook, can pursue a suit charging B&N with misappropriating trade secrets, breach of contract and unfair competition. ... "

Alex eReader Enters Tough Market

The [Louisville] Courier-Journal: "Amazon says it's now selling more e-books than hardcovers. The company stepped up its price war with Sony and Barnes & Noble by reducing the cost of its lowest-priced Kindle reader to $139. There are free versions of the Kindle reader available for iPhones and Android mobile phones. And sales are booming for Apple's iPad, which comes with its own well-designed e-book reader. None of that is good news for Spring Design, the California company that makes a new e-book reader called the Alex. ..."

Spring Design's Android Alex eReader Doesn't Sound Like a Contender

At least not to me. Or to others. As the guys at CNET put it:

Very expensive; no access to major e-book store; color LCD appears to have a significant impact on battery life; navigation is hampered by lack of a "home" button; non-standard 2.5mm headphone jack; no support for Word files; no easy way to add new Android apps; too many fixes and additional features currently listed as "coming soon."

Add no 3G. Also add the fact that Alex uses the ancient (in tech time) Android 1.6 operating system. And no proprietary bookstore. And a price of $399. Forget it. DOA.