Google Inc. and Honeywell have reached an agreement ending a patent-dispute lawsuit over the Nest thermostat. The two mega-companies did not provide any details other than a terse announcement “that they have reached a long-term patent cross-license agreement reflecting the respective strength of the companies' patent portfolios.”
The announcement goes on to say: “Google and Honeywell believe that this patent accord promotes product innovation and consumer choice in the market for smart home products. The agreement fully resolves pending patent litigation between Honeywell and Nest Labs. Terms of the agreement are otherwise confidential.”
The lawsuit was brought back in 2012 by Honeywell claiming patent infringement by Nest (later Google and now Alphabet) for alleged violations of:
U.S. Patent No. 7,634,504 – “Natural Language Installer Set Up for Controller”
U.S. Patent No. 7,142,948 – “Controller Interface with Dynamic Schedule Display”
U.S. Patent No. 7,584,899 – “HVAC Controller”
U.S. Patent No. 7,159,789 – “Thermostat with Mechanical User Interface”
U.S. Patent No. 7,159,790 – “Thermostat with Offset Drive”
U.S. Patent No. 7,476,988 – “Power Stealing Control Devices”
U.S. Patent No. 6,975,958 – “Profile Based Method for Deriving a Temperature Setpoint Using a ‘Delta’ Based On Cross-Indexing a Received Price-Point Level Signal.”
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