Drama has found its way into the Snapchat corner (and it’s not another takeover attempt). Rather it’s actually a temporary restraining order being filed against one of the people responsible for the app’s existence.
Disappearing messages were apparently the brainchild of Reggie Brown, a former classmate and fraternity brother of Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel and CTO Bobby Murphy. Brown claims he was wrongfully ousted from the company and stripped of his ownership stake in July 2011.
In the videos, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel admits that disappearing photos — the core Snapchat product — were Brown’s idea:
“Work on his application? With him? No.”
During Spiegel’s deposition, he said Brown came to him with the idea for disappearing photos. Spiegel said that conversation was the first time he had ever heard of an app like that. As Spiegel recalled that conversation, he got animated. Then the interviewer hit a sore spot. “Did you ask Reggie if you could work on his application with him?” the interviewer asked. “Work on his application?” Spiegel responded. “With him? No.”
Spiegel has also said that Brown “may deserve something for some of his contributions” to Snapchat. Snapchat’s lawyers, Quinn Emanuel, are trying to stop the videos from leaking to the press. To that end, they’re trying to get a restraining order against Brown and his law firm, Lee Tran Liang & Wang. The restraining order is apparently an attempt to keep Brown from telling the press his story.
Here’s the full request for the temporary restraining order [via]
Snapchat Files Restraining Order