Barnes & Noble sued over e-reader

Technology firm Spring Design said Tuesday that it has filed a lawsuit against Barnes & Noble, alleging the retailer misappropriated trade secrets and violated a nondisclosure agreement when it launched its electronic reader Nook last month.

Spring Design said Nook's features are too close to its Alex e-reader. Both devices feature two screens and run on Google's Android operating system.

Spring Design, based in Cupertino, Calif., said it had been in talks with Barnes & Noble about confidential information related to Alex's features since the beginning of 2009 within a nondisclosure agreement.