Snapchat took action to protect company information by filing a restraining order against a man claiming to have come up with the idea for its picture messaging app, reports Reuters.

In court documents filed in California last week, the company said Frank Reginald Brown disclosed confidential information about the company to the media. Brown argued that he reserves the right to make the information public at any time.

Brown is suing the company for breach of a partnership agreement, alleging it denied the contribution he made in founding the company. Brown’s law firm said it plans to file a response to the restraining order request.

Snapchat deletes images seconds after they have been viewed and is particularly popular with young users. However, it doesn’t yet generate revenue.

Despite this, the company is attracting interest from investors, reportedly rejecting a $3 billion bid from Facebook in November.

However, The Wall Street Journal said Snapchat will not consider an acquisition or investment deal until early in 2014.

Evan Spiegel, Snapchat’s 23-year-old co-founder and CEO, is believed to be waiting for user numbers and messages sent via the service to increase further, in order to push for a higher valuation.

In June, Snapchat raised $60 million, in a transaction which valued the company at $800 million. By September, the company said usage had almost doubled to 350 million messages per day.

Facebook is believed to be interested in Snapchat due to its messaging capability and young user base. The social network’s business is increasingly generating revenue from mobile advertising but it recently stated that fewer teenagers are using its service.

Snapchat was also reported to have been offered a $200 million investment from a group led by Chinese online player Tencent, which values the company at $4 billion. Tencent already runs the successful Weixin/WeChat messaging app.