Nest Officially Answers Patent Lawsuit: ‘Honeywell Is Worse Than a Troll’
Upstart smart thermostat maker Nest has received almost-universally glowing praise for its Learning Thermostat since it launched last year — and it also received a major patent complaint from Honeywell, which claims Nest is walking all over its intellectual property. Not so, says Nest: the company just filed its official answer to Honeywell’s complaint today, and in addition to arguing that it isn’t infringing Honeywell’s patents, it also stridently argues that most of those patents are “hopelessly invalid.” What’s more, Nest also claims that Honeywell is misusing its patents to stifle innovation — a strategy Nest claims Honeywell has used to squeeze out new competitors for years. “Honeywell is worse than a patent troll,” says Nest CEO Tony Fadell. “They’re trying to strangle us, and we’re not going to allow that to happen.”
Nest has created the most exciting, innovative thermostat available and Honeywell knows it. Rather than trying to compete with them by creating a smart thermostat of their own, they have decided to go the patent lawsuit route. Shame on Honeywell.