Roku says it’s business as usual, despite the US International Trade Commission placing a sales ban on many of its products in the ongoing patent dispute with UEI.
The ITC ruled that several Roku products infringed a UEI patent, resulting in a ban on the import of the products that include the companies streaming devices and soundbars.
The orders will come into force on January 9, 2022, following the expiry of a Presidential Review Period.
“We brought this action to protect our highly innovative intellectual property from unauthorized use by Roku, and we are gratified that the ITC recognized Roku’s infringement and ordered it halted,” said Richard A. Firehammer, Jr. UEI’s SVP & General Counsel. “Now that the full Commission opinion is publicly available, UEI’s clear and decisive victory is plain for all to see. The Commission’s ban on Roku imports and sales is an important step in the process of preventing Roku from continuing its unlawful use of UEI technology.”
However, Joe Hollinger, VP of litigation and intellectual property at Roku argued “There have been no new developments in this case”.
“Roku has already successfully implemented technical design changes that eliminate any infringement of the one remaining UEI patent. Based on the ITC’s ruling, we do not anticipate any disruption in Roku’s ability to continue to import products,” said Hollinger in a statement.\UEI says Roku’s software updates designed to mitigate the infringement have not gone sufficiently far enough to avoid the patent claim.
Nevertheless, the exclusion order includes an exemption for revised products including the Roku Ultra and Roku Soundbar that have been judged not to be in infringement of the UEI patents.
