Case Study Project: XIT and Kidde

1. Assuming that X-IT pursues formal legal action against Kidde, what would the legal claims be? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each claim? What would be the likelihood of success of each claim?

CDNSTANCE E. BAGLEY DAVID LANE X-IT and Kidde (A) X-lT Products LLC was founded in 1996 by Aldo I. DiBelardino and Andrew D. lve to make and sell a superior compact fire-escape ladder. The two founders had met while working on a project for a Harvard Business School class on product development. The original idea came from Ive who, after being awakened by a blaring fire alarm one night in his Harvard dormitory, wondered what he could do if the source of the disturbance was ever anything more serious than a neighbor's burned popoorn. The next morning, he tested his 215-pound frame on a newly acquired fire-escape ladder. As Ive was hanging out his second-oor window, the ladder broke, forcing him to cling to the sill until someone pulled him inside. He had found the subject of his class project.1 Ive, whose background was in marketing and business turnarounds, convinced his classmate and best friend DiBelardino to help build a new product, one that even children could readily use in an emergency. DiBelardino held an engineering degree from the University of Virginia and had worked in the construction industry and oomPuter software business development.2 While DiBelardino experimented with ladder designs, Ive polished what would become XIT's business plan.J Over the next few months, DiBelardino designed several prototypes, eventually settling on a design that featured nested aluminum rungs linked by ame-resistant webbing. The webbing made XIT's product half the size, half the weight, and twice as strong as the leading product.\" First Steps X-lT was organized as a limited liability company in June 199'? with the goal of \"setting the qualityr standard" in the $3.4 billion U.S. fire-protection market.5 Existing ladders on the market were generally large, heavy, and, as Ive had discovered, of low quality. Most were made from steel or plastic rungs linked by a metal chain that tangled easily