Chamberlain's $63M Patent Case

A patent infringement has ended against The Genie Company, a subsidiary of the Overhead Door Corp. The jury in the case cleared both Genie and Overhead Door of the patent infringement allegations. As stated by the report filed in March of 2021 by The Chamberlain Group, The Genie Company and Overhead Door Corporation both infringed upon patents that were in relation to smartphone garage door openers as well as other devices that belonged to two companies and two inventors who came up with garage door openers.

What Is the Patent Infringement Lawsuit About?

In essence, the Chamberlain Group, which owns various other gate opener and garage door opener companies such as Liftmaster, stated that their patent had been violated. They alleged that the Aladdin Connect line of internet-connected garage door owners and other such accessories sold by The Genie Company infringed on the patent that Chamberlain holds for "electronic access control system[s] for entrance doors."

The trial lasted a week and was overseen by the United States District Judge Rodney Gilstrap. At the end of the trial, the jury ended up voting in favor of the defendant. Genie was of course happy with the result and doubled down on the fact that they stand behind the quality and integrity of their products. They also commented that they will keep protecting their intellectual property in this way.

Who Was Involved in the Lawsuit?

1. The Chamberlain Group is designed around providing excellent garage door openers to their customers and has used many creative innovations to create top-tier quality products that lead the industry. The company is one of the top competitors of smart home technology companies and is known for its high-quality intelligent access solutions to its customers. The Chamberlain Group is known to have made a number of contributions to the industry, and it has worked on many other projects that helped shape how people use garage door openers both at home and at work.
2. The Genie Company is based in the United States. They manufacture garage door openers and other such products. Genie Home Products was founded in 1923 and produced the first radio-controlled, mass-produced residential garage opener of its kind. They underwent a name change to just the Genie Company, and under this new name started creating automatic gate openers, automatic garage door openers, keyless entry systems and remote controls as well as many other similar items.

What Is Patent Infringement?

A patent is a set of rights that the federal government gives to an inventor. With this patent, an inventor can maintain control over who can use, make or sell a certain invention over the course of a set amount of time. When a patent is infringed upon, it can be defined as committing a prohibited act against an invention that has been patented. This is an act that is taken without first having the patent holder's permission. This kind of permission is usually otherwise granted in the form of a license. Though the legal definition of what a patent infringement looks like could vary depending on where you live, it is generally accepted that this happens when someone sells or uses a patented invention without permission from the patent holder.

In short, patent infringement can happen when someone uses, makes or sells an invention that has been previously patented without getting permission from the owner of the patent. Because a patent is limited to a certain time period, unauthorized sale or use that occurs on or after the expiration day of the patent does not mean that there was copyright infringement. Patents are also territorial, so any unauthorized act with a patent only gets marked up as copyright infringement if the act takes place somewhere where the patent prevents it. This is usually a country-wide area.

The patents that were specifically included in this case included:

• U.S. Patent No. 8,144,011: Encrypted wireless communication link.
• U.S. Patent No. 8,587,404: Time-to-close feature and auto-close alert feature when Wi-Fi activated.
• U.S. Patent No. 9,644,416: Energy-efficient transceiver.

Because of the attempted claim on the patent infringement, Chamberlain Group ended up losing the case to The Genie Company together with a potential $63 million compensation. This case and the decision that came from it could bring with its serious implications for larger companies that want to obtain a competitive edge and list patents to be used against smaller businesses. The decision of the jury clearly shows that there can and likely will be consequences for any bigger company that tries to wield patents against smaller companies as a weapon, especially those smaller companies without the necessary resources to fight back.