WPP, Kantar and TRA Ditch Last Damages Claim

WPP, Kantar and TRA have jointly agreed not to go to court over the last outstanding claim in their three-year legal wrangle. A case which began with allegations of stealing trade secrets and deterring potential investors was concluded with the payment of one dollar in nominal damages over breach of contract.

The case began in 2011, when TRA investor WPP filed a lawsuit against TRA over the latter's allegations that WPP-owned Kantar had 'ripped off' its MediaTRAnalytics TV audience/shopping data matching solution while developing its own RapidView product. Kantar's product was launched just a few months after talks between the firms regarding a potential purchase of TRA by WPP broke down.

Last year, Kantar filed a request in the US District Court in Manhattan to dismiss the patent infringement claims, and in October, Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that Kantar and others did not misappropriate trade secrets as alleged, or unfairly scare off TRA investors by means of the competitive launch and legal action. Judge Scheindlin followed up in April with a decision that TRA (which is now owned by TiVo) was not entitled to either compensatory or punitive damages on the breach of contract claims.

WPP, Kantar and affiliated companies have now been deemed to have paid TRA $1 in nominal damages, and the case is finally closed.