iRobot Corp. (IRBT) is suing Robotic FX, Inc., of Worth, Ill., and its founder and president, a former iRobot employee, Jameel Ahed. iRobot says Robotic FX’s “Negotiator” is a knock-off version of its combat-proven iRobot PackBot robot, and infringes its patents. iRobot is company more known for its consumer Roomba robots than its military robots.
To enforce its rights, iRobot has filed:
(i) a lawsuit against Robotic FX in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama for infringement of two U.S. patents
(ii) a separate lawsuit against Ahed, in Massachusetts Superior Court, for misappropriation and misuse of confidential information related to iRobot’s PackBot that was used to build the Negotiator.
There is obviously no way to settle this dispute other than having the robots in question battle to the death. That should be a law.
iRobot makes military bots?!?