Motorola Solutions, a provider of public and commercial safety solutions, has filed a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) against enterprise building security start-up Verkada, seeking to prevent the importation and sale of Verkada products that allegedly infringe on patents by Avigilon, Motorola Solution’s subsidiary.

In the complaint, filed on Aug. 9, Motorola Solutions alleges that Verkada’s Dome Series, Mini Series, Bullet Series, Fisheye Series and D-Series cameras, along with their related software infringe upon three Avigilon patents:

• U.S. Patent No. 7,868,912, “the ’912 Patent,” titled “Video Surveillance System Employing Video Primitives,” which is directed to a video security system that monitors a location for security purposes. The patented technology can reduce the amount of video surveillance data and improve analysis of that data.
• U.S. Patent No. 10,726,312, “the ’312 Patent,” titled “System and Method for Appearance Search,” which is directed to identifying objects of interest in video within a video security system. The patented technology can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of object identification in video.
• U.S. Patent No. 8,508,607, “the ’607 Patent,” titled “Method and System for a Programmable Camera for Configurable Security and Surveillance Systems,” generally is directed to programmable cameras for configurable security systems. The patented technology can result in more effectively and/or efficiently integrated security and surveillance systems.

According to the complaint, Motorola Solutions alleges that Verkada has relied on and incorporated intellectual property owned by Avigilon since its founding.

“For example, after receiving criticism from the industry that its systems lacked many of the analytics features that Avigilon pioneered, including Appearance Search, Verkada incorporated the same functionality in its own ‘People Analytics,’” the complaint reads. “Just like Avigilon’s earlier-developed and patented Appearance Search technology, Verkada’s allegedly ‘game-changing’ People Analytics is ‘built on AI’ and enables users to search and filter based on several different appearance attributes, ‘including gender traits, clothing color, and even a person’s face.’”

Additionally, Verkada’s use of a hybrid edge computing architecture that extracts metadata from video and Verkada’s firmware update functionality take from Avigilon’s innovations.

“At Motorola Solutions, we have invested extensively to deliver cutting-edge video security and analytics solutions to our customers around the world and across industries,” a company spokesperson said when asked for comment. “On behalf of our customers, shareholders, employees, partners and other stakeholders, we will continue to defend our intellectual property and investments in innovation.”

In response to the complaint, a Verkada spokesperson said that the company values and respects intellectual property. However, in this case, Verkada does not believe the lawsuit has merit and the company “[plans] to vigorously defend our rights and technologies.”

“It is not surprising to see this type of litigation, which is commonly faced by many successful technology companies — particularly those pushing the boundaries of what has historically been offered in a product category,” the spokesperson said. “Verkada was founded to reimagine our industry and deliver to customers cutting edge, integrated hardware and software that is easy-to-use and highly scalable. This fresh take on a traditional space disrupted established players who have not been able to match the same type of seamless experience that has helped us grow. In the meantime, our focus will continue to be on serving our customers and designing, building, and shipping the market-leading and innovative products that customers love.”