Fast food giant Mcdonald's
Broken ice cream machines are a massive pain for Mcdonald's franchisees, with their constant breakdowns having long ago reached meme status among many. The phenomenon is so widespread that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has even questioned franchisees over the matter.
Kytch was poised for landmark success by selling Mcdonald's franchisees the solution to their perpetually broken machines. Their product, a smartphone-sized device, essentially serves as a "translator" for the machines, translating error codes to plain English and helping employees troubleshoot common issues. McDonald's would later send mass emails to franchisees demanding all Kytch devices be removed as they violated the machines' warranty, transmitted "confidential data" over the web, and could lead to "serious human injury."
The company's claims of Kytch's device being dangerous and capable of "injury" are at the core of the two-person startup's legal argument. The claims came after Kytch's initial success and repeated failures by the ice cream machines' manufacturer to develop even a limited solution to the problem. The company allegedly acted out of its own interests, according to Kytch's filings.
"They've tarnished our name. They scared off our customers and ruined our business. They were anti-competitive. They lied about a product that they said would be released." Kytch co-founder Melissa Nelson said. "McDonald's had every reason to know that Kytch was safe and didn't have any issues. It was not dangerous, like they claimed. And so we're suing them."
The lawsuit is part of a two-pronged effort against both McDonalds and Taylor, the company that makes its ice cream machines. Against the latter, Kytch is alleging attempts to steal "trade secrets" by trying to reverse engineer one of its gadgets.
