IRobot Bid to Block Imports of SharkNinja Vacuums to Be Probed

The U.S. International Trade Commission has launched an investigation based on a patent-infringement complaint iRobot filed in January against rival SharkNinja over robotic vacuums and floor-moppers, according to a notice posted on the Washington agency’s website

• IRobot claims Shark’s products infringe patents for things like auto-docking and map-based training, and seeks to block imports of SharkNinja products including the ION, IQ and AI wet/dry VacMop
• The ITC complaint was filed after iRobot failed in its effort to halt Shark sales while a patent case was pending in federal court in Boston
• SharkNinja has said that iRobot is using its intellectual ...