Oxylabs Sued Luminati (now Bright Data) and Its Investor EMK Capital LLP for Unfair Competition

Oxylabs, a leading proxy service provider, sued Luminati (now Bright Data) and its investor EMK Capital LLP on the following claims: unfair competition, false advertising, false patent marking, defamation/business disparagement, tortious interference with prospective business relations, tortious interference with existing contract, and conspiracy.

Oxylabs initiated legal proceedings to respond to what they believe are aggressive and anti-competitive practices by Bright Data, which started back in July 2018 with a lawsuit against Oxylabs. Bright Data claimed that two Oxylabs’ products – its residential proxy network and Real-Time Crawler (now known as a Web Scraper API)- allegedly infringed Bright Data’s patents. On February 4th, 2020, the lawsuit ended with the Court dismissing all Bright Data’s claims with prejudice.

Shortly after the Court dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, Bright Data released information that Oxylabs’ statement supported by official Court’s decision is misleading and inaccurate both through public and private channels, as per the following example which was published on Bright Data’s official website:

“Luminati is aware of Oxylab’s recent press releases and conclusions which are incorrect and contrary to the resolution of the dispute.”

Note: Luminati has since rebranded to Bright Data.

Part of Bright Data’s motivation for these actions might lie in the fact that, back in August 2017, EMK Capital LLP, an investment firm, acquired a significant stake in the company. According to public information, the investment round was negotiated between EMK Capital’s managing partners Mark Joseph and Edmund Lazarus, and Bright Data’s founders Ofer Vilenski and Derry Shribman.

It is relevant to note that back in 2018, EMK Capital’s managing partner Mark Joseph approached Oxylabs, expressing interest in the potential acquisition or merger of Oxylabs to expand Bright Data’s service offerings and market reach. However, Oxylabs had no interest in pursuing such a possibility.

Presently, Mark Joseph is the chairman of Bright Data’s board, and there’s reason to believe that EMK Capital LLP initiated or supported these tactics, now having significant influence in Bright Data’s business operations.

Finally, Oxylabs will always strive to ensure a fair market in which innovation thrives through legitimate competition, delivering increasingly better products and as much value as possible for its partners.