A long-standing legal battle involving accusations of copied robot toy source code between Pittsburgh-based Digital Dream Labs Inc. (DDL) and Chinese company Living Technology (Shenzhen) Co. has concluded with a settlement, according to documents filed in federal court on Tuesday.
Chinese Robot Code Source Lawsuit : Details of the Settlement
The lawsuit centered on allegations that Living Technology, also known as Living.ai, copied the source code from a unique interactive menu system used in DDL’s “Vector” robot toy—a system visually displayed through the toy’s eyes. According to court filings, both companies have agreed to drop all claims and counterclaims “with prejudice,” which means another lawsuit concerning the same issue cannot be pursued.
U.S. District Judge Christy Criswell Wiegand officially dismissed the Chinese Robot Code Source Lawsuit on Wednesday, following a stipulation from both parties to end their legal dispute under an undisclosed settlement.
The Core of the Dispute
Originally, DDL had acquired the intellectual property rights for the Vector robot toy from Anki Inc., which had ceased operations. The dispute ignited when Living.ai reportedly purchased several Anki demonstration robots at auction, subsequently reverse engineering certain aspects of the Vector’s source code to use in their own robot toy, the “Emo.”
