BEDFORD, Mass., Sept. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT), a leader in consumer robots and maker of the Roomba® vacuuming robot, today announced that it has reached a confidential agreement with Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. ("MSI"), a $3 billion (U.S.) Taiwanese computer and component manufacturer. The agreement represents a successful effort by iRobot to defend and protect its valuable intellectual property. As part of the agreement, MSI agreed to exit the robotic cleaning industry worldwide and will compensate iRobot with a confidential monetary payment. The remaining terms of the settlement are confidential.
"This settlement represents the first successful milestone on the enforcement effort iRobot initiated earlier this year," said Glen Weinstein, executive vice president and chief legal officer at iRobot. "Since being founded more than 25 years ago, iRobot has made significant investments in R&D and intellectual property to innovate and bring consumer robotic technologies to market worldwide. The agreement by MSI to exit the robotic cleaning industry signifies the value of iRobot's intellectual property and the company's efforts to protect it."
As part of the agreement, iRobot has agreed to remove the Hoover Quest 600, 700, and 800 products sold and/or distributed by Hoover, Inc. from the pending U.S. International Trade Commission ("ITC") investigation No. 337-TA-1057 ("In the Matter of Certain Robotic Vacuum Cleaning Devices and Components Thereof Such as Spare Parts") and the United States District Court of Massachusetts Case No. 1:17-cv-10647. The actions involving the Hoover Quest 1000 product as well as the products from Bissell Homecare, Inc., bObsweep, Inc., bObsweep USA, the Black & Decker Corporation, Black & Decker (U.S.) Inc., Shenzhen ZhiYi Technology Co., Ltd., Matsutek Enterprises Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen Silver Star Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd will proceed. An evidentiary hearing in the ITC investigation is scheduled for March 2018.
About iRobot Corp.
iRobot, the leading global consumer robot company, designs and builds robots that empower people to do more both inside and outside of the home. iRobot created the home robot cleaning category with the introduction of its Roomba® Vacuuming Robot in 2002. Today, iRobot is a global enterprise that has sold more than 20 million robots worldwide. iRobot's product line, including the Roomba and the Braava® family of mopping robots, feature proprietary technologies and advanced concepts in cleaning, mapping and navigation. iRobot's engineers are building an ecosystem of robots and data to enable the smart home. For more information about iRobot, please visit www.irobot.com.
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SOURCE iRobot Corp.
Elise Caffrey, Investor Relations, iRobot Corp., (781) 430-3003, ecaffrey@irobot.com; Matthew Lloyd, Media Relations, iRobot Corp., (781) 430-3720, mlloyd@irobot.com
