Amazon hit with ‘elder care’ tech lawsuit
E-commerce company accused of infringing patents owned by an insurer | Dispute concerns the Alexa ‘Care Hub’ product used in care homes.
Amazon is facing claims that it stole elder care technology from an insurer, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, and used it to launch its own products.
In a suit filed yesterday, November 3 at the US District Court for the District of Delaware, State Farm claimed that Amazon had partnered with the insurer to adapt Amazon's Alexa-enabled devices before taking State Farm’s patent-protected technology and launching its own product.
First-ever patent suit
“State Farm welcomes competition and does not bring litigation lightly. In fact, it has never before filed a suit for patent infringement. But Amazon’s blatant, wilful infringement creates an unfair playing field and threatens the ability to innovate,” said the suit.
The insurer claimed that in 2019 and 2020, State Farm had regular meetings with Amazon and provided the e-commerce platform with materials concerning its patent-pending technologies. State Farm added that Amazon’s engineers and executives learned about the insurer’s structure, operation, functions of, and applications for those patented technologies.
“But Amazon did not stop at merely watching; instead, its egregious actions, under the guise of an alleged partnership, reflect blatant, wilful infringement. Rather than viewing its work with State Farm as the partnership it was intended to be, Amazon saw an opportunity to copy State Farm’s pioneering, proprietary technologies and avoid the expensive and time-consuming effort that would have been necessary to develop its own innovations in the elder care space for Alexa.”
State Farm’s own elder care product Sundial was launched in June 2020, while Amazon launched its Alexa ‘Care Hub’ product in November 2020 and a subscription service soon after, according to the complaint.
‘Unabashed copying’
Sundial includes a virtual care hub which offers check-in and monitoring features. State Farm has alleged that Amazon engaged in “unabashed copying” to provide a check in feature in ‘Care Hub’, along with other functionalities.
“Despite State Farm repeatedly notifying Amazon of its infringement and State Farm’s attempts to resolve this issue amicably, Amazon continues its infringing campaign,” said the suit.
In addition to accusing Amazon of infringing six patents, State Farm claimed that Amazon had engaged in a pattern of anti-competitive behaviour, including IP infringement and violations of partnership agreements.
“Amazon’s repeated efforts to run roughshod over other companies that develop their own products, services, and technologies—documented repeatedly by a variety of sources—significantly harms innovation and undermines the intent of the US patent laws,” said State Farm.
State Farm has asked the court to find that Amazon is infringing its patents and for injunctive relief, alongside damages.
The complaint added: “If Amazon’s improper use of State Farm’s technologies allows Amazon to avoid the investments in time and money needed to independently develop new products, other companies will be encouraged to simply use others’ proprietary technologies rather than hire engineers, invest in innovation, and develop new technologies organically, and true innovators will simply give up or give in.”
