Surreal Holdings, a software development firm based in Alpharetta, Ga., has filed a lawsuit against Amazon Web Services (AWS) alleging that the termination of their software development agreement was wrongful. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, claims that AWS owes Surreal over $1.27 million. The termination was justified by Amazon citing breaches of confidentiality, including Surreal’s promotion of the Emirates project on their website and the inclusion of AWS and Emirates logos in a site footer.
The lawsuit references a video by popular aviation and travel vlogger, Sam Chui, as evidence that the work for Amazon and Emirates was not confidential. The video in question featured a VR demo at the Emirates booth during the 2023 Dubai Airshow, where Chui tried a virtual cabin crew experience using a VR headset. The segment of the video did not mention Surreal’s involvement in creating the experience.
Surreal alleges that after the Dubai Airshow, they requested compensation for their work on the demo, but AWS refused, claiming it was a ‘partner effort’ and that they should have negotiated payment in advance. Neither AWS nor Emirates paid Surreal or their vendor for any of the work performed on the demo. The lawsuit states that the inclusion of the AWS and Emirates logos in the footer did not specifically cite Surreal’s work for the companies, therefore not constituting a breach of confidentiality.
The work in question was part of a collaboration between AWS and Emirates to create virtual reality experiences for Emirates employees, including crew training. Surreal claims that they had the potential to make over $15 million in license and support fees over five years from their broader agreement with AWS related to the Emirates work before the contract was terminated. The lawsuit does not involve Sam Chui, and he is not named in the dispute.
Amazon did not provide a comment in response to an inquiry from GeekWire regarding the lawsuit. Similarly, Emirates, who is not named as a defendant, did not respond to an inquiry. The lawsuit filed by Surreal Holdings against Amazon Web Services raises questions about confidentiality and compensation in collaborative projects between software development firms and tech giants like AWS in the aviation industry.
