BURLINGTON, Mass., Aug. 25, 2005 – iRobot Corp. today announced that it has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed against Koolatron, Inc. and Urus Industrial Corp., of Ontario, Canada, now known as Koolatron Corporation. The lawsuit was filed to protect the patent, copyright and trade dress rights of iRobot’s Roomba® Floor Vacuuming Robot.
The companies have now come to agreement. In a Final Consent Judgment, it was entered that the iRobot patents were valid and enforceable, and the parties reached an agreement whereby Koolatron agreed not to sell its Koolvac KV-1 vacuums in the United States, after a period during which Koolatron is at liberty to dispose of its current stock of the Koolvac KV-1. Koolatron has also agreed not to engage in any advertising or promotion that dilutes iRobot’s business reputation and products, after having been made aware of iRobot’s concerns with respect to the KV-1 vacuum.
“iRobot has worked diligently to build great products and Roomba is a readily identifiable brand,” said Senior Vice President & General Counsel Glen Weinstein of iRobot. “We must be vigilant in guarding our products from imitation.”
“We are pleased that we are able to put this matter behind us and to have amicably resolved the issues that iRobot raised in its complaint,” said Arun Kulkarni, chief executive officer, Koolatron Corporation. “We have built a successful business by providing a broad range of products directly to consumers, and we have a policy of respecting the intellectual property rights of others.”
iRobot has 19 U.S. patents as well as several international patents and over 25 pending patent applications. iRobot was represented by the Fish & Neave Intellectual Property Group of Ropes & Gray LLP in this matter, and Koolatron was represented by Richard Campbell of Brantford, Ontario.
About iRobot Corp.
iRobot is a leading global provider of robots that perform dull, dirty or dangerous missions with better results. The company’s proprietary technology, iRobot AWARE Robot Intelligence Systems, incorporates advanced concepts in navigation, mobility, manipulation and artificial intelligence. This proprietary system enables iRobot to build behavior-based robots, including its family of consumer, military and industrial robots. For additional information about iRobot, please visit www.irobot.com.
| Contact: | |
| Parna Sarkar iRobot Corp. psarkar@irobot.com (781) 418-3135 |
Elena Frigeri A&R Partners for iRobot Corp. efrigeri@arpartners.com (212) 905-6153 |