US court dismisses Deque Systems’ lawsuit against SaaS firm BrowserStack

Court Order

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has dismissed claims of Intellectual Property (IP) theft brought against Accel-backed web software testing platform BrowserStack by the firm's rival Deque Systems.

The lawsuit, which alleged copyright infringement, breach of contract, and false advertising related to BrowserStack’s accessibility testing solutions, was resolved in BrowserStack’s favor without the need for a trial. The court found insufficient evidence to support Deque’s claims.

Moneycontrol reported the development first in April 2024 that BrowserStack has been dragged to the US District Court by Deque Systems over Intellectual Property (IP) theft allegations.

"This ruling validates our unwavering commitment to ethical innovation and original product development," said Ritesh Arora, CEO and Co-founder of BrowserStack in a media statement. "While we respect Deque’s contributions to digital accessibility, we are gratified that the court recognized the independence and legitimacy of our technology."

According to Deque Systems' complaint, BrowserStack entered the accessibility testing market in 2023 with a replica of 'axe DevTools browser extension' which is part of Deque's proprietary accessibility testing product.

Accessibility testing is a process of making web and mobile applications easily accessible to people with disabilities such as visual, hearing, mobility, and cognitive impairment.

BrowserStack emphasized that it had attempted to resolve the dispute amicably. "From the outset, BrowserStack actively sought to mediate and resolve this matter on mutually fair terms,” said Vikash Sureka, CFO of BrowserStack. “Unfortunately, Deque chose to continue legal proceedings, extending the dispute far longer than necessary."

Founded in 2011 by Ritesh Arora and Nakul Aggarwal, BrowserStack was bootstrapped for 7 years, raising $50 million in Series A from Accel in 2018.

Deque Systems was started in 1999 by Preety Kumar and the firm produces accessibility testing software in addition to offering accessibility consulting services and training.

BrowserStack is presently valued at above $4 billion after it raised $200 million in its Series B funding round led by Mary Meeker's BOND, with participation from Insight Partners and existing investor Accel.

The firm recently announced the acquisition of bug detection and reporting platform Bird Eats Bug for a total investment of $20 million, highlighting the increasing consolidation happening in the SaaS space.