The years-long legal dispute between Portland marketing software maker Opal Labs and rival Sprinklr Inc. has been settled with Sprinklr agreeing to pay $12 million.
Two parties have been tangled in court since 2017 when Opal filed a $50 million suit against New York-based Sprinklr alleging that Sprinklr, a former business partner of Opal, obtained confidential information about Opal’s software, then used it to create a competing product.
Last fall, a federal jury in Oregon agreed with several major claims made by Opal, however, the jury could not agree on damages. At trial Opal sought $22 million in compensatory damages and $88 million in punitive damages.
The two sides were to appear back in court in February, when a new trial was scheduled to begin after the judge in the case granted a mistrial on previous proceedings in January.
However, according to Sprinklr’s annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the two sides agreed to settle the case Feb. 25. The case was dismissed March 1. The $12 million settlement appears as a one-time operating expense in Sprinklr’s 2022 fiscal year.
The settlement was paid March 30, according to the filing.
“The litigation has settled, and the parties look forward to competing in the marketplace,” said attorney Chad Colton, of Markowitz Herbold, who represented Opal.
A Sprinklr (NYSE: CXM) spokesman had this comment from the company: "We're pleased to have resolved this dispute and look forward to competing in the marketplace."
Opal makes software that allows marketing teams to collaborate and create cohesive marketing stories. The company was founded in 2011 and has about 100 employees. It has raised $22.6 million from investors.
Sprinklr, which calls itself a unified customer experience management platform, had fiscal year 2022 revenue of $492.4 million. The company reported a net loss of $111.5 million. The company has 3,245 employees with 933 in the U.S. The company does have an office in Portland, which was established when it bought Portland-based Postano.
This story has been corrected to show that the two sides were to start a retrial in February on the case.
