• TechCrunch, Thursday, August 26, 2010 2:07 PM

The honeymoon's over... and just in time for the divorce. Three months ago, Lithium Technologies, a privately held provider of social networking and online community-building software, agreed to buy brand-tracking startup Scout Labs for a reported $20 million. Minor Ventures, which helped give birth to Scout Labs, reportedly made out well. Now, however, in a lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, Minor Ventures is accusing Lithium of intentional misrepresentation, fraud and fraudulent concealment, TechCrunch reports. "The entire amount at stake is around $5.5 million (half of the promised $11 million or so in stock received)," according to TechCrunch. "Minor Ventures is also asking for punitive damages as well."

According to the suit, the Lithium Technologies stock Minor Ventures received in the transaction was only worth half of what Lithium Technologies supposedly promised it was worth. Taking on top conversation trackers like Nielsen BuzzMetrics and TNS Cymfony, Scout Labs came out of beta early last year with what it billed as a more economical consumer sentiment-tracking service for agencies and marketers. At launch, the San Francisco-based company boasted a client list of some 200 customer-focused companies including Netflix, Hewlett-Packard, Target, Nike and StubHub, along with agencies, including AKQA, Organic and Tribal DDB.

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