The smart kitchen IP battles are heating up.
Perfect Company, maker of the Perfect Drink and Perfect Bake smart scale systems, has scored a win against Adaptics, the company behind the Drop Scale. A request to review a Perfect Company patent by Adaptics has resulted in a US Patent and Trademark Office validation of Perfect Company’s core IP in the area of connected scales.
In December 2014, Perfect company filed a lawsuit against the makers of the Drop Scale that claimed Adaptics had infringed on their patent. The company saw the the Drop Scale in violation of their 365 patent for a smart kitchen scale connecting to a smart device with a recipe app.
In December 2016, the United States Patent and Trademark Office agreed to reexamine Perfect’s patent based on claims made by Adaptics. Just seven months later, the USPTO decided Perfect’s patent was valid.
While Adaptics has since pivoted slightly to focus on providing the Drop platform to third parties, this ruling still marks an important win for Perfect, who sees its patent portfolio as an important weapon in the increasingly competitive platform wars in the connected kitchen. The company has been aggressive about defending its IP, and has shown itself as somewhat opportunistic when it comes to shoring up its patent portfolio with the acquisition of Orange Chef’s IP last year.
“This reexamination successfully overcomes the prior art and arguments asserted by Adaptics in our ongoing litigation,” said Mike Wallace, CEO of Perfect Company. “We believe that this decision reaffirms our position as the leader in connected kitchen technology, which we will continue to aggressively defend.”
See the full press release below:
Perfect Company Announces Successful Patent Reexamination
Further Strengthening its Place in the Connected Kitchen
July 25, 2017 – Vancouver, WA – Perfect Company, the leading developer of connected kitchen products, announces today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) issued a decision regarding the reexamination of its US Patent 8,829,365 (“‘365 Patent”). The decision upheld the validity of one of Perfect Company’s key patents with no changes and also allowed new claims that were considered during the reexamination.
The ‘365 Patent protects Perfect Company’s system that connects a smart kitchen scale to a smart device equipped with a recipe app – wirelessly or wired – allowing for communication between the scale and the device to ensure the perfect combination of ingredients every time. Current products in the marketplace covered by the patent include the Perfect Drink® app-controlled smart bartending system, Perfect Bake™ app-controlled smart baking system, Perfect Blend™ and Vitamix Perfect Blend™ app-controlled smart blending systems and Perfect Kitchen™ PRO app-controlled smart kitchen system.
On December 12, 2014, Perfect Company filed a suit against Adaptics Ltd., maker of the Drop Scale, for infringement of its ‘365 Patent. On December 2, 2016, the USPTO agreed to reexamine the ‘365 Patent based on arguments filed by Adaptics. Just seven months later, on July 10, 2017, that reexamination came to a successful resolution for Perfect Company.
“Patent reexaminations like this can take years, and often narrow both the claims and scope of the patent. We are thrilled with the breadth, speed and success of this reexamination,” says Michael Wallace, CEO of Perfect Company. “This reexamination successfully overcomes the prior art and arguments asserted by Adaptics in our ongoing litigation. We believe that this decision reaffirms our position as the leader in connected kitchen technology, which we will continue to aggressively defend.”
The ‘365 patent has been filed world-wide and has already issued in several countries. Last year, Perfect Company acquired Orange Chef’s Prep Pad IP, which included one issued patent. Perfect Company is actively filing new patents to cover its expanding technology offering.
