State Farm, the largest insurer of vehicles and homes in the U.S., has filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com and affiliated companies for willful patent infringement. The case involves technological innovations in elder care known as Sundial®. State Farm does not take litigation lightly and this is the first time the company has filed a patent infringement lawsuit.
The complaint alleges Amazon copied State Farm patented technology to launch its own competing product to its millions of users. State Farm believes Amazon’s Care Hub and Alexa Together service willfully infringe six State Farm patents issued between 2021 and 2022.
Consistent with its longstanding commitment to research and development, State Farm invested multiple years of research and development in technology to help older adults live independently and remain in their homes longer.
Initially a partnership to introduce State Farm innovations for use with Amazon’s Alexa-enabled devices, Amazon observed State Farm engineers and senior product personnel adapt patented technology to work on Amazon’s Alexa platform. State Farm released Sundial® in June 2020 while Amazon launched its competing Alexa Care Hub product in November of the same year.
State Farm informed Amazon that Care Hub infringes State Farm patents, but Amazon was undeterred, and in December 2021, despite full notice of its infringement of patents of State Farm, Amazon launched another competing product, Alexa Together, in blatant disregard of State Farm intellectual property rights.
As set forth in the complaint filed, Amazon’s conduct in copying and profiting from State Farm technology constitutes willful patent infringement. Through its complaint, State Farm seeks to stop Amazon’s improper use of State Farm patented technologies.
State Farm has continued to develop innovative technologies since its founding and Sundial is just another example of how, throughout its 100-year history, State Farm has consistently invested in innovation to help serve its customers. State Farm, along with its technical subsidiary BlueOwl, has been awarded over 1,500 U.S. patents for key technical innovations to date.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. State Farm is represented in this matter by Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
Original source can be found here.
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