Disney Infinity toys at centre of patent infringement dispute
Disney has been sued over a range of toys which allegedly infringe a patented technology.
The complaint (pdf) was filed at the US District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division on Monday, December 4.
Interactive Toy Box, an Austin-based company, said the Infinity range of toys sold by Disney infringes its patent which covers a processing unit having a microprocessor or a microcontroller which enables interactivity in toys.
Disney Infinity is an action-adventure sandbox video game developed by Avalanche Software and published by Disney Interactive Studios. Disney has also created toys linked to the game.
The patent in question is US patent number 6,471,565, which was first registered in 2002 by a French company but purchased by Interactive Toy Box in 2016.
The complaint included uploads of pictures of infringing toys, which include the Disney Infinity Toy Box Adventure Starter Pack and a range of other models including Monsters Inc and The Incredibles.
A range of functions which made the toys interactive, including bluetooth pairing, processing boards and circuit boards, led to accusations from the Texas-based company that Disney had infringed its patent.
“Disney has and continues to directly infringe at least one claim of the ’565 patent, literally or under the doctrine of equivalents, by making and selling the accused products,” the complaint stated.
It added that the Infinity products “include a plurality of accessories comprising at least one inductive label for interacting electromagnetically” which therefore led the products to infringe the patent.
Interactive Toy Box is seeking damages, a jury trial and attorneys’ fees.
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