iRobot sues Robot FX over alleged patent infringement

by Donald Melanson, posted Aug 20th 2007 at 12:20PM

It looks like Robot FX has run into a bigger obstacle than it's bargained for, with the company now facing not one but two lawsuits from iRobot over alleged patent infringement. Apparently, iRobot thinks that Robot FX's "Negotiator" robot is a little too similar to iRobot's popular Packbot, and it's asking for a permanent injunction to prevent Robot FX from selling any more of the bots, along with the usual damages. Adding further to the intrigue is the fact that Robot FX was founded by a former iRobot employee, who is specifically named in the second lawsuit claiming misappropriation and misuse of confidential information relating to the Packbot. Sadly, it seems that the whole matter will have to be settled in court, and not in a winner-take-all robot death match as we would have hoped.

Filed under: Robots

Tags: irobot, lawsuit, negotiator, packbot, patent, patent infringement, PatentInfringement, robot fx, RobotFx

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kirk @ Aug 20th 2007 12:42PM

i, for one, welcome our patent infringement lawsuit filing overlords!

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philipbarrett @ Aug 20th 2007 1:14PM

Bot Wars! Awesome.

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Jerome @ Aug 20th 2007 1:42PM

In Servo 08.2007 magasine page 9 you see the negotiator with the front flipper.

I want those plastic track to build my own!

Jerome

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Andrew Koyfman @ Sep 19th 2007 6:08PM

A writer on our blog (as well as a few attourneys we know) spent the last two days going through the iRobot / RobotFX court documents trying to figure out what has been going on. If you want the gory details, as well as both company's points of view, take a look at http://www.xconomy.com/2007/09/19/dumpster-diving-detectives-and-tales-of-industrial-espionage-court-filings-reveal-twists-and-turns-of-irobot-robotic-fx-case/

All the details you ever wanted to know, without having to go through piles of documents.

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