What Investors Need to Know About iRobot's SharkNinja Patent Case Setback

When iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT) initially dropped its patent hammer on SharkNinja in mid-October, it seemed to be a straightforward case of the home-robotics leader protecting its intellectual property from a copycat competitor.

It wasn't just that SharkNinja's recently launched IQ Robot vacuum bore a striking resemblance to the self-cleaning Roomba models that iRobot debuted more than a year ago; iRobot management also specifically asserted that SharkNinja had violated three patents covering "selected room cleaning," "recharge and resume" functionality, and self-emptying "auto-evacuation technology."

"We will not stand by while our technology gets brazenly ripped off, and we will continue to vigorously defend our innovations both in the U.S. and abroad," pledged iRobot Executive VP and Chief Legal Officer Glen Weinstein at the time.

Source Fool.com