Rival robotic vacuum makers trade blows in patent dispute
Consumer technology company iRobot has accused rival SharkNinja of infringing three of its patents, and asked a US federal court to ban sales of the Shark IQ Robot.
Both companies specialise in artificial intelligence (AI)-powered robotic vacuum cleaners.
iRobot filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against SharkNinja on Monday, October 15 at the US District Court for the District of Massachussetts.
According to the company, the Shark IQ Robot infringes three patents covering iRobot’s Roomba i7+ robotic vacuum cleaner.
The patents cover key elements of robotic vacuum cleaning technology, including selected room cleaning, recharge and resume tech with mapping, and auto-evacuation.
iRobot’s suit follows a court filing by SharkNinja in which it asked the court to declare that it had not infringed the Roomba manufacturer’s IP.
‘Dominate through litigation’
“SharkNinja filed this lawsuit in response to a threatening letter from iRobot wrongly accusing SharkNinja of infringing these patents,” SharkNinja said in a statement.
“SharkNinja takes IP very seriously and takes active steps to avoid violations of any IP,” it added.
The company took a strong position on what it sees as iRobot’s efforts to “dominate the robot vacuum cleaner market through litigation and deny consumers the choice of robotic vacuum cleaners at affordable prices”.
“SharkNinja filed its lawsuit first in order to quickly clear its name and put an immediate stop to iRobot's threats,” the company said.
The filings mark the latest in a string of patent battles over robotic vacuum cleaners. Last December, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) banned the import of certain robots sold by bObsweep and Hoover following a patent infringement complaint from iRobot.
Glen Weinstein, executive vice president and chief legal officer of iRobot, said that: “As demonstrated by our victory at the ITC last year, iRobot takes strong measures to protect our IP and the hard work of our engineering teams.”
“We will not stand by while our technology gets brazenly ripped off, and we will continue to vigorously defend our innovations both in the US and abroad,” Weinsten added.
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