Google Loses Patent Trial in Texas Over Nest Thermostats (1)

(Updates with Google comment in sixth bullet.)

• Alphabet’s Google was told to pay $20 million after losing a trial in which a California firm claimed it copied a patented invention for a way to make home thermostats more energy efficient.
• Google infringed an EcoFactor patent for a way to reduce peak demand, but not a second patent owned by the firm, a federal jury in Waco, Texas found
• Closely held EcoFactor, which makes software used by utilities, accused Google of infringing two patents and was demanding $5.16 for every Nest unit sold between January 2020 and January 2022, for a total of $29 million
  • Google told the jury it came up with its Nest features independently and that even if a violation were found, any royalty above 22 cents a unit was too much
• EcoFactor said its inventions contributed to the success of Nest, a claim Google rejected
• Google denied infringing either patent and argued they didn’t cover new inventions
• Google said it disagreed with the verdict and will appeal
  • “We compete on the merits of our ideas and quality of our products,” said José Castañeda, a Google spokesperson. “Our customers will not be impacted by today’s decision”
• NOTE: EcoFactor also filed two patent cases at the International Trade Commission; Google won the first and the second is pending
• The case is EcoFactor Inc. v. Google LLC, 20-75, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (Waco)

To contact the reporter on this story:
Susan Decker in Washington at sdecker1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net

Megan Howard

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