Registry

Patent litigations

Federal district court cases and ITC 337 investigations on the DEPLOY registry. ITC matters carry a cross-reference to the underlying regulatory filing per the reciprocal-seam discipline (the same legal event lives in both the patent-litigation graph and the regulatory-filings graph; the registry preserves both edges).

• apple-v-openai-trade-secrets-2026pending

  Apple filed a federal trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI alleging former Apple engineers stole trade secrets to develop OpenAI's upcoming AI device. 41-page complaint. Apple alleges OpenAI conspired with former employees as part of a scheme to take an unlawful shortcut and launch a consumer device. Central figure: former engineer Chang Liu.

  district_court · filed 2026-07-10

• 337-TA-1373withdrawn

  Ouster ITC complaint (Certain LiDAR Systems) vs Hesai over US 11,175,405; 11,178,381; 11,190,750; 11,287,515; 11,422,236. ITC terminated the investigation (affirmed Oct 2023) based on an arbitration clause in Hesai's 2020 Velodyne settlement.

  itc · filed 2023-05-17 · reported

• 1:21-cv-01764-LPSsettled

  Boston Dynamics filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Ghost Robotics in the District of Delaware on November 5, 2021, alleging that Ghost's Spirit and Vision 60 quadruped robots infringed three Boston Dynamics patents covering legged robot locomotion systems and gait control. Boston Dynamics sought injunctive relief and damages. Ghost Robotics counterclaimed. The case settled in June 2022 on undisclosed terms. Both companies continue to operate independently in the quadruped robot market.

  district_court · filed 2021-11-05

• 3:21-cv-03496decided

  SIS sued Intuitive (N.D. Cal.) under Sherman Act Secs. 1 & 2 alleging unlawful tying of da Vinci service to EndoWrist purchases. Judge Martinez-Olguin granted JMOL for Intuitive before closing arguments (Jan 28, 2024) applying Epic v. Apple aftermarket precedent; $140M (trebled $420M) claim denied.

  district_court · filed 2021-05-01 · reported

• 8:20-cv-02274settled

  Rebotix Repair sued Intuitive (M.D. Fla.) over EndoWrist 'right to repair' antitrust tying claims. Settled shortly after the order denying summary judgment, before final pretrial conference.

  district_court · filed 2020-09-25 · reported

• 337-TA-1209settled

  Velodyne Lidar, Inc. filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) in June 2020 against Hesai Photonics (China) and Surestar (China), alleging infringement of rotating multi-channel LiDAR patents. Velodyne sought an exclusion order to block importation of accused lidar units. The ITC administrative law judge denied Velodyne's motion for temporary exclusion order in August 2020. The case was settled in early 2022 following Velodyne's merger with Ouster.

  itc · filed 2020-06-03

• 1:19-cv-12125settled

  iRobot sued SharkNinja (D. Mass., Chief Judge Burroughs) over six robotic-vacuum patents (mapping, auto-recharge, self-emptying) targeting Shark IQ line. IPRs invalidated/undermined core claims; stipulated dismissal filed Apr 5, 2024.

  district_court · filed 2019-10-15 · reported

• 337-TA-1173settled

  Velodyne ITC complaint (Certain Rotating 3-D LiDAR Devices) vs Hesai and RoboSense over US 7,969,558. Hesai terminated by settlement July 13, 2020; RoboSense terminated by settlement/cross-license Sep 30, 2020; investigation terminated in full.

  itc · filed 2019-08-15 · reported

• 3:19-cv-04742settled

  Velodyne sued Hesai and RoboSense (N.D. Cal.) for infringement of US 7,969,558 (High Definition LiDAR). Both defendants entered settlement and patent cross-license / royalty agreements with Velodyne (2020).

  district_court · filed 2019-08-13 · reported

• 5:19-cv-00055settled

  Restore Robotics sued Intuitive (N.D. Fla., Panama City) alleging antitrust tying of EndoWrist instruments to da Vinci systems. Case terminated Jan 27, 2023.

  district_court · filed 2019-02-27 · reported

• 1:18-cv-01359settled

  Intuitive Surgical sued Auris Health (J&J subsidiary) in D. Del. alleging infringement of multiple da Vinci surgical-robot patents; related IPR2019-01533 and Fed. Cir. appeals 21-1732/21-1733. Resolved after ~5 years.

  district_court · filed 2018-09-04 · reported

• 337-TA-1133decided

  Autel Robotics USA ITC complaint vs SZ DJI over US 7,979,174; 9,260,184; 10,044,013 (obstacle avoidance, rotor blades, battery clamps). Mar 2020 initial determination found DJI violated Sec. 337 by infringing US 9,260,184; Commission reviewed May 2020.

  itc · filed 2018-08-30 · reported

• IPR2018-00255decided

  Quanergy petitioned IPR challenging Velodyne's US 7,969,558 as obvious. PTAB (May 23, 2019) upheld patentability of all challenged claims. Fed. Cir. (Appeal Nos. 2020-2070/2072) affirmed Feb 4, 2022.

  uspto_ptab · filed 2017-12-01 · reported

• 3:17-cv-00939-WHAsettled

  Waymo LLC (Google/Alphabet AV spinout) sued Uber Technologies and Otto Trucking alleging that Anthony Levandowski stole approximately 14,000 proprietary files including LiDAR circuit board schematics and other trade secrets before leaving Google to found Otto, which Uber acquired for $680M. Filed February 23, 2017 in the Northern District of California. Settled February 9, 2018 for approximately 0.34% of Uber equity valued at ~$245M. The case established a landmark precedent for trade secret protections in autonomous vehicle technology.

  district_court · filed 2017-02-23

• 1:16-cv-00706pending

  SZ DJI Technology sued Autel Robotics USA (D. Del., Judge L. Stark) for drone patent infringement; Autel counterclaimed (incl. antitrust predatory-pricing, dismissed Mar 2019). Claim construction opinions issued 2019 and 2021.

  district_court · filed 2016-08-11 · reported