As I was doing my regular checks of new robot videos on YouTube, I came across a cheezy commercial for a robot vacuum that appears to be nearly a perfect ripoff of the Roomba 400 series vacuum (the older generation). except with a much smaller trash bin. Here it is:
The video appears to have been posted by an Iranian importer, who says he imports robotic vacuums from Korea. If that's so, I'd assume that the language in the video is Korean? Anyone who can read it, please post a translation in the comments or email me at thorn_stevens (Plus the @ symbol) and yahoo.com. (Korea, by the way, has the highest market penetration of robotic vacuums of any country in the world).
The video appears to show what I can only assume would be violations of several iRobot patents, including its patent on virtual wall technology. Although I'm sure Iran wouldn't care about a U.S. patent. But this kind of thing should be on the minds of iRobot's lawyers. Can they file suit in Korea? What's the status of their international patent portfolio? iRobot has successfully defeated other copycats before. I don't think a product like this would do well in the United States, but I would worry about Asian consumers buying cheap knockoffs from a local brand.
Tags: iRobot, robot, Roomba, YouTube, Korea
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Roomba Robot Vacuum Knockoff Featured by Iranian Company?!
at
8:46 PM
Categories:
IRBT News,
iRobot Patents,
Korea Robots,
Roomba,
Roomba Competitors,
Videos
Posted by thorn_stevens
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2 comments:
Hi Thorn, both the audio and the characters are in Chinese. I don't have much hope that Irobot will be able to enforce copyright either in China or in Iran!
Hi Thorn,
I asked a korean student and she informs that both the audio and the characters are in Chinese! I don't have much hope that Irobot will be able to enforce copyright either in China or in Iran.
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