iRobot Wins International Trade Commission Case

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) announced that it has won a case with the International Trade Commission with the result barring products from Hoover and bObsweep from importation into the US.

As quoted in the press release:

The affected respondents include bObsweep, Inc., bObsweep USA, Hoover, and Shenzhen Silver Star Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (the “Respondents”). The final determination confirms Judge Thomas Pender’s recommendation for a limited exclusion order to prevent the importation into the United States of infringing robotic vacuum products from Hoover and bObsweep, amongst others.

Following the determination, a mandatory 60-day presidential review period will now begin, during which the U.S. President may modify the ITC’s final determination. The ITC’s exclusion order will exclude the following products from the U.S. market:

• bObsweep’s Classic, Pet, PetHair, PetHair Plus, Standard, and Junior robotic vacuum products; and
• Hoover’s Quest 1000 robotic vacuum products

“Today, iRobot took one step further in its enforcement campaign against serial infringers,” said Glen Weinstein, executive vice president and chief legal officer of iRobot. “Blatant acts of infringement, like those of the Respondents, will not be tolerated by iRobot. Today’s final determination once again confirms the strength and validity of iRobot’s intellectual property. We thank the Commission and Judge Pender for their time and attention to this case. iRobot plans to continue its current litigation campaign at the district court.”

“This victory is a significant achievement for iRobot and we are thrilled with the outcome. Patent litigation, however, is only one of our competitive tools. Continuing to innovate and lead with new products like the Roomba® i7+ with Clean Base™ Automatic Dirt Disposal, all of which are strongly protected by patents that we will continue to enforce, will remain a focus of the company in the years to come,” said Colin Angle, chairman and chief executive officer of iRobot.

Based on the strength of the litigation and its patent portfolio, iRobot was able to obtain favorable settlements from Shenzhen Zhiyi Technology Co. Ltd. d/b/a iLife, Micro-Star International (manufacturer of certain Hoover robotic vacuum products), Black & Decker, and Matsutek (manufacturer of Bissell robotic vacuum products).

The ITC’s final determination follows the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decision not to institute four out of six inter partes review (“IPR”) petitions filed by respondent Shenzhen ZhiYi last fall, and all five IPR petitions filed by Shenzhen Silver Star Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.

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