The long-standing legal battle between ClearOne and Shure continued this week when Shure filed a lawsuit against ClearOne in the U.S. Court for the District of Delaware, alleging ClearOne’s BMA CT product infringes Shure’s U.S. Patent No. 9,565,493 (“‘493 Patent”).
The ‘493 patent, which protects the architecture of Shure’s ceiling array microphone, underlies Shure’s MXA910 product line. [related]
Shure also alleges ClearOne “engaged in unfair competition, tortious interference, deceptive trade practices and false advertising by intentionally making false, deceptive and/or misleading remarks in the marketplace about the status and availability of Shure’s MXA910 in order to deter customers from purchasing these products.”
“Specifically, Shure alleges that ClearOne is leveraging ongoing litigation between the two companies to intentionally and falsely claim that Shure’s MXA910 products are unavailable to customers, that Shure is unable to sell these products, that integrators, installers and/or end users will need to tear or rip out existing installations of the MXA910, and other similar false representations,” according to the Shure announcement.
“Rather than innovating or competing fairly, ClearOne responded to Shure’s successful launch of its MXA product line by releasing its own product mimicking the MXA910,” said Paul Applebaum, executive VP and general counsel at Shure, in the announcement.
“In an effort to promote its infringing product, ClearOne has decided to mislead the marketplace—which includes customers of both companies—by engaging in a smear campaign of false and misleading statements about Shure’s products. These deceptive practices not only harm Shure but are intended to scare and confuse consumers,” he said.
Shure is seeking “monetary damages and injunctive relief to prevent the continuing infringement of Shure’s intellectual property and to stop ClearOne’s unlawful violations of the Delaware Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the Lanham Act and its Tortious Interference with Business Relations,” according to the announcement.
How ClearOne Responds to Shure’s Allegations
ClearOne officials denied Shure’s allegations of patent infringement and false advertising.
“Shure’s claims are frivolous and appear to be manufactured to retaliate against ClearOne’s meritorious patent infringement and trade secret claims against Shure currently pending in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois,” a ClearOne representative told CI.
“Shure’s claim that ClearOne’s BMA-CT product infringes its ’493 patent is without merit. The asserted claims of Shure’s ’493 patent are invalid in light of ClearOne’s own earlier Patent No. 9,813,806,” according to the ClearOne representative.
“Even before Shure filed its desperate lawsuit, ClearOne had challenged the validity of Shure’s ’493 patent in the U.S. [Patent and Trademark Office] and asserted claims against Shure for infringement of ClearOne’s ’806 patent,” according to the ClearOne representative.
“ClearOne is confident that it will prevail and that Shure’s desperate ploy to manufacture frivolous claims will be rejected,” the ClearOne representative said.
