Aerial imagery specialist Nearmap
(ASX:NEA) told investors that it is conscious of litigation by a consortium of rivals against its US subsidiary over a patent infringement allegation.
Eagle View Technologies and Pictometry International Corp have joined forces to begin legal proceedings in the United States District Court, accusing Nearmap US of breaching their patent rights to their roof-scaling technology.
Nearmap acquired a roof-measuring instrument through its takeover of Pushpin, in order to gain a competitive advantage in the insurance market.
The technology produces roof measurements for roof reports, which form a crucial component in determining the outcome of an insurance claim.
The plaintiffs now complain that Pushpin’s technology represents an intellectual property infringement of their own roof-estimation technology.
Nearmap has vowed to "vigorously defend against the complaint” and affirmed that the company takes “the subject of intellectual property rights and patent protections seriously and believes the allegations are without merit”.
The patents for this technology generate a substantial proportion of US sales for the consortium, while roof reports account for 41 per cent of Nearmap US’ North American sales to insurers.
The prosecutors’s purpose of the lawsuit is to demand pecuniary compensation and discontinue the alleged violation of their intellectual property rights.
Shares in Nearmap
(ASX:NEA) are trading 13.14 per cent lower at $2.05
