The co-founders of Kytch, Inc., a company that makes ice cream machine repair devices, Jeremy O’Sullivan and his partner Melissa Nelson filed a lawsuit against ice cream machine maker Taylor in May. Taylor is the company that produces McDonald’s famous McFlurry machines while Kytch was the company responsible for repairing them. Now, Kytch has claimed that Taylor stole ‘trade secrets’ and used them to create its own repair device. The lawsuit is taking place in California.
According to a report by Fox Business, a judge has ordered a restraining order against Taylor and ordered them to surrender all Kytch devices within 24 hours. The article states that customers would constantly complain about the machines not operating properly, and these complaints can be seen on social media.
In the lawsuit, it is stated that Taylor deliberately designed bad code which would cause the machines to not work correctly, allowing the company to make more money. Not only that, but the suit claims the company would use aliases and fake email addresses to attempt to get their hands on one of the Kytch devices.
The Fox article states that a spokesperson for Taylor made an admission that they were able to obtain a Kytch device.
The complaint by Kytch also makes the claim that Taylor, along with Mcdonald’s franchisee Tyler Gamble, had conspired to make their own version of the Kytch device.
Taylor even told franchisees along with Mcdonald’s to not buy the Kytch products because they were dangerous and could cause injuries.
Along with the suit, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been investigating the machines, asking Mcdonald’s franchisees to see why their machines keep breaking down. This likely stems from President Biden having the FTC crack down on product manufacturers according to New York Post reporter Will Feuer.
The report states that the lawyers representing Kytch said this case is about corporate spying and unnecessary stakes their competitor made in order to protect their multimillion monopoly on ice cream machines.
Taylor’s lawyer responded by claiming that his client was hacked, and they are being falsely accused of stealing technology.
Jamario Brown-Tolliver
Intern