PlayaDRM, the Digital Rights Management (DRM) company started by Oystein Wright and Jason Tucker, sent customers a 10-day notice Sunday stating that the company would be shut down, effective June 16.
The demise comes after PlayaDRM filed a lawsuit against Tucker, his wife Gail Harris, and another of Tucker’s companies, Falcon Foto, alleging that Tucker diverted more than $75,000 from Playa to himself and the other defendants on May 5. The suit has since been amended to name software developer Chad Myers, who created the code for PlayDRM’s software and licensed it to them, and his company ideaFoundry.
The email to clients states, “Unfortunately we have experienced major internal discrepancies in which a partner’s actions has [sic] severely crippled PlayaDRM’s ability to continue to serve its clients in a manner deserved both financially and technically. At the current time we are suffering from severe technical issues due to unknown reasons.”
Wright elaborated further, saying the company’s database is no longer functioning.
“The problem right now is there have been unexplainable technical errors. Parts of the database have been deleted and we don’t know how to deal with it,” Wright tells AVNOnline.com. “Somebody has done something to the system so that nothing works.”
“It’s horrible for the clients, but kind of a relief for me,” Wright continues. “It’s impossible, financially, to run this company with everything that’s happened.”
Myers said he gave PlayaDRM notice on April 10 that the company would no longer have license to his DRM software 30 days from that date.
“I own InstantDRM, which is the software they were licensing, and I’m constantly updating making sure things are running smoothly. I stopped maintaining that system a while ago,” Myers tells AVNOnline.com.
Although aware of the lawsuit, Myers was unaware that his name had been added to it.
“I’m not even sure what they’re alleging in here, so it comes as a surprise,” Myers says.
Tucker, who was locked out of the company he co-founded in March, has since formed his own DRM company, Protected Video.
When contacted, Tucker said he was unaware of Playa’s demise.
“I had no idea about any of this,” he tells AVNOnline.com. “I’ve been locked out, so I have no knowledge or access to anything.”
PlayaDRM clients final billing cycle will be for the month of May.
The amended lawsuit can be viewed here.
