RingCentral-Zoom War of Words Continues as Court Issues Temporary Restraining Order

A temporary restraining order against Zoom allows RingCentral to continue selling Zoom’s services to new customers under the companies’ agreement.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued the temporary restraining order against Zoom.

Zoom alleges RingCentral engaged in unfair competition and false designation of origin, breach of contract, and violation of the California Business and Professionals Code.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction barring RingCentral from using its trademark, and for the company to turn over all profits and gains from the use of its trademarks.

Zoom has been trying to terminate its agreement with RingCentral since last summer. However, the court ruled the agreement remains in place. Furthermore, it precludes Zoom from imposing technical measures to block RingCentral and its customers access to Zoom services.

Zoom Remains Confident

“The court issued its temporary order before Zoom had an opportunity to respond and it remains in place only until the matter can be heard next Thursday,” a Zoom spokesperson said. “We remain confident in our position, and look forward to making our case and resolving this issue through the court system.”

RingCentral issued the following statement:

“This affirms our right to continue selling RingCentral Meetings powered by Zoom. While the majority of our new customers are choosing RingCentral Video, we believe in giving customers choices. We will continue our laser-focused commitment to deliver an unmatched suite of products and services that will give people the freedom to work from anywhere.”

Zoom and RingCentral have partnered for more than seven years, providing video conferencing services for RingCentral to resell under its own RingCentral Meetings brand.

However, RingCentral rolled out its own video conferencing service, RingCentral Video, last April. RingCentral continued to market and sell Zoom products to new customers.

However, RingCentral claims it is in the process of switching these customers to non-Zoom products.

Risk of ‘Irreparable Harm’

Zoom claims that despite its efforts to terminate its agreement with RingCentral last summer, the latter continues to market and resell the former’s products and services to new customers.

Zoom also alleges RingCentral misled customers, investors and the public as to why it needs to transition customers to non-Zoom products. In a Jan. 19 announcement, RingCentral said the reason for the transition was to “give our customers the best possible video meeting experience.”

“RingCentral establishes a risk of irreparable harm in the form of loss of customers, goodwill and market share that will occur if Zoom is permitted to block access to services provided for in the (agreement),” the court order said. “The balance of equities weights in RingCentral’s favor because an injunction requiring Zoom to comply with its contractual obligations will not harm Zoom, whereas RingCentral has shown it will suffer substantial harm.”