The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, July 8, edition that Dye & Durham is accusing an upstart rival and an ex-client of improperly copying its software to build a business it claims is siphoning off its clients. The Globe's Sean Silcoff writes that Dye & Durham last week sued LawLabs and law firm Kelly Law Professional, both of London, Ont., in Ontario Superior Court, alleging the defendants had infringed on Dye & Durham's "exclusive rights" related to its Unity platform. LawLabs is led by Thomas Kelly. Son Alex Kelly is a lawyer with the firm. Another son, Harrison Kelly, is chief executive officer of LawLabs. All three are defendants. Dye & Durham alleges LawLabs accessed Unity through a licence held by the law firm with the intent of "reverse engineering" and copying the Unity software to create its own platform, Closer. The claim alleges that Alex Kelly created user profiles for seven LawLabs employees. They pretended to open transactions to access forms and spent 155-plus hours watching training webinars, the claim alleges. A lawyer for LawLabs calls Dye & Durham's claim "meritless," and says his client will refute the allegations "in full" in its statement of defence.