ESPN Accused of Sports Programming Trade Secret Misappropriation

SportsBubble Inc. accused Walt Disney Co. and ESPN Inc. of misappropriating its trade secrets and confidential information to develop a competing product called “Where to Watch” for live sports programming.

SportsBubble alleges that ESPN feigned interest in partnering and induced the company to share confidential technical details about its “WatchSports” app under a non-disclosure agreement, only to use that information to build a copycat product, according to the complaint filed Aug. 14 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The complaint alleges violations of the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, as well as state law ...