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Deque Systems sues BrowserStack over testing codes: ‘stop stealing’

Preety Kumar said BrowserStack should 'stop stealing'
Preety Kumar

Software test equipment provider Deque Systems has filed a lawsuit against BrowserStack in the U.S. over the use of one of its testing platforms.

Deque Systems reportedly alleges that BrowserStack acquired Deque’s proprietary testing platform DevTools, only for it to be taken apart and directly access its codes.

The codes, as Deque Systems claims, were then duplicated in order to develop BrowserStack’s own testing tool, which was subsequently launched and brought to market by BrowserStack at the end of last year.

“When we looked at the extent of the copying, the theft was intentional, pervasive, blatant and frankly, really shameless,” clarified Preety Kumar, the CEO and founder of Deque Systems, in a statement.

“So they even use their work emails, with ‘browserstack.com’ when they signed up for our trials [so] we have decided that we’re going to have to vigorously defend our intellectual property rights,” Kumar said.


“The theft was intentional, pervasive, blatant and frankly, really shameless.”

Preety Kumar

Deque Systems develops accessibility software and testing tools and is used by a range of large U.S. banks, including PNC Financial services and U.S. Bancorp.

BrowserStack is a web and mobile testing tech provider that is venture capital-backed and was recently valued at around $4 billion. Among its prominent financial services clients are Wells Fargo, Capital One, Stripe and Mastercard.

Years of development

Kumar said Deque Systems spent more than five years developing the testing platform. She stressed designing efforts evolved around ensuring that the product remains usable for novice users and still be compatible with algorithms at the backend.

Pretty Kumar
Preety Kumar

“Some of the questions that are in BrowserStack’s product are verbatim stolen questions from our product, as well as in addition to some of the code that they saw,” Kumar explained.

At the time BrowserStack allegedly signed up “for hundreds of accounts”, as she put it, Deque Systems’ product was in beta first.

When Deque subsequently launched the software product, it drastically limited the option to use it during a free trial.

It was then however, according to Kumar, that BrowserStack attempted to sign up for a subscription with a generic email like “test@browserstack.com”.

Deque objected since such a generic email meant the account would be open to many multiple users. In response, BrowserStack acquired a range of subscriptions from Deque Systems, which allowed them access to the entire product.

CEO Kumar (centre) and her team in Herndon, Virginia
CEO Kumar (centre) and her team in Herndon, Virginia

First of its kind

Kumar stressed it is the first time ever Deque Systems has filed such a large lawsuit.

She explained the primary reason to go to court is because the alleged IP theft hinders Deque’s ability to pursue its mission.

When asked to elaborate, Kumar said that “we may not have the resources of a VC-backed company, like a BrowserStack or a $4 billion valuation. But for 25 years, I really believe we’ve done something much more valuable.”


“This case is like car jacking in the daytime.”

Preety Kumar

“The impact this has is it completely cripples our ability to subsidise all the good and what we give back to the community. This case is like car jacking in the daytime,” Kumar continued.

She expects more information to come out as the litigation continues regarding how BrowserStack is allegedly “poaching” Deque Systems’ customers by claiming its product is much better than Kumar’s firm.

She is convinced that the best outcome of any lawsuit would be for BrowserStack to end all its alleged illegal activities and compensate Deque Systems accordingly.

“Right the wrong, stop stealing and selling things based on what you have stolen from us and pay for the damages,” Kumar concluded.

When approached by QA Financial, BrowserStack declined to comment.


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