ADT on Wednesday announced that it has filed a lawsuit against rival Vivint claiming that the smart home security firm has infringed upon its technology patents. The lawsuit comes just four months after Vivint filed a similar lawsuit against ADT alleging that the company’s Pulse, Control and Blue security systems infringed upon its patents.
The ADT complaint, which was filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission and in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, alleges that Vivint products including the Vivint Home Security System, SkyControl Panel, and Vivint Smart Hub violate U.S. Patents No. 8,976,937 and No. 9,286,772, which belong to ADT.
“Vivint launched its SkyControl Panel and related products with the express desire, in the words of its former CEO, to ‘control anything and everything inside the home,’” David W. Smail, ADT’s Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, said in a statement. “Apparently Vivint also meant ‘by any means necessary.’
“To gain an unfair advantage in the smart home security and automation market, where ADT has long been a pioneer and continues to lead, Vivint infringes ADT’s patents covering, among other things, predictive analytics, detection and diagnostics, and advanced user interfaces including voice control,” Smail continued. “By defending its robust patent portfolio, ADT is determined to protect its employees, its customers, its products, and its reputation. We are asking the Commission for an exclusion order prohibiting Vivint from importing products infringing on our patents, and we are asking the court for a finding of infringement along with appropriate damages, fees, and other relief.”
For its part, Vivint issued a statement on Wednesday that characterized the lawsuit as a “reactionary countersuit” to the one it filed earlier this year.
“Vivint believes the claims asserted are completely without merit and that the complaint is a reactionary countersuit to a patent infringement complaint Vivint had previously filed on February 25, 2021, against ADT in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. Vivint’s complaint asserts that ADT infringes six Vivint patents and Vivint is continuing to prosecute its claims in that case. Vivint intends to vigorously defend against ADT’s allegations,” the company said in the statement.
ADT’s patent infringement claims are just the latest in a series of legal salvos between the two companies dating back to 2017 when ADT sued Vivint for allegedly engaging in deceptive sales practices. Vivint agreed to pay ADT $10 million to settle the lawsuit just a year later.
