SharkNinja Strikes Back at iRobot in Vacuum-Patent Battle

SharkNinja has launched a counterattack on iRobot patents, asking a review board within the Patent and Trademark Office to cancel at least two patents that are at the heart of the Roomba maker’s efforts to get its rival shut out of the U.S. market.

• SharkNinja filed petitions claiming that one iRobot patent for auto-docking and energy management and another for an autonomous floor-cleaning robot didn’t cover new ideas and shouldn’t have been issued
  • “There is nothing novel about any of the claimed components or their combination,” of the robot patent, SharkNinja said in the petition filed Friday
  • The patent for ...