Holdsworth ready to sacrifice all in Reunert battle
John Holdsworth, founder and chief executive of start-up AppChat, says he is ready to deplete his financial resources in a legal battle with former employer, Reunert, and will petition the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein after his latest appeal was denied.
In August, the high court in Pretoria ruled in favour of Holdsworth’s former employer, Nashua ECN, a subsidiarty of JSE-listed Reunert, finding that he had breached his restraint of trade while also soliciting his former colleagues to work for AppChat.
Holdsworth said that he would appeal the judgement, citing numerous factual errors; however, that appeal was denied earlier this week by high court judge, Selby Baqwa.
Holdsworth was the founder and CEO of ECN, a provider of IP-based next generation network services. He sold ECN to Reunert in July 2011.
AppChat is a mobile telecom start-up that aims to “significantly reduce mobile tariffs and increase call quality in South Africa”.
While Holdsworth also maintains that he had no idea that Nashua ECN was developing a VoIP application for mobile phones, Judge Baqwa ruled otherwise.
“I have a profound sense of injustice. Everybody knows that ECN is a fixed voice provider. Their so-called mobile VoIP application is a standing joke in the industry; unfortunately as the victim of that sick joke I don’t find it very funny,” Holdsworth told BusinessTech.
“It is very frustrating to sit in court and listen to untruths or half-truths presented as facts, but even worse when the judge believes those untruths and half-truths and bases his entire judgment on them,” he said.
Holdsworth, who has already employed more than a dozen people to work at AppChat, and is eyeing a launch date of February 2013 for the start-up, said he has questioned whether to cut his losses and shut AppChat, down making fifteen staff redundant in the process.
“Or do I deplete all my financial resources fighting a corporate giant with unlimited resources and a determination to win at all costs?”
“I have decided to continue fighting and will petition the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. Sometimes you just have to fight for what is right and the only way to deal with injustice is to try and set it right,” Holdsworth said.
He stressed that “every day is a struggle to survive for start-up companies, and most fail for a variety of reasons. One of the main reasons why start-up companies fail is due to a lack of uniqueness and originality”.
The entrepreneur pointed out that most start-ups were imitations or slight variations of existing companies.
“Derivative ideas are easy to adopt, but they are not the best if you want to be successful. The most successful start-up companies launch products and services that are totally novel, unique and original. AppChat’s vision is to completely reinvent how converged fixed and mobile services are delivered, not only in South Africa, but the world,” Holdsworth said.
He continued, saying that Reunert was wrong when it accused AppChat of copying its ideas and stealing its intellectual property.
“I have no intention of copying Reunert’s ideas or stealing their intellectual property. Reunert’s so-called mobile VoIP application (which is yet to see the light of day) is neither novel, unique nor original. Indeed there are many such mobile VoIP products in South Africa and the world.”
Holdsworth lamented having spent the past six months responding to Reunert’s affidavits, leaving little time for anything else.
“AppChat’s product development and launch plans have been severely impacted. My reputation has been damaged by Reunert’s untrue allegations and AppChat has been placed in a very difficult if not impossible position,” he said.
“But having said that, I am not cynical or bitter, and believe that at the end of the day the checks and balances in the legal system will kick in and this judgment will be reversed,” he said.
“The challenge, though, is to take whatever actions are necessary in the interim without allowing negativity or despondency to take hold. On that note, it is business as usual at AppChat, watch this space,” Holdsworth said.
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