Matterport is suing GeoCV for infringing on the patents that guard its 3D home tour technology, the company confirmed to Inman on Thursday.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware, alleges that GeoCV’s offerings, including 3D scans and virtual open houses, infringe on at least six Matterport patents. In a release, Matterport claims that GeoCV’s, “start-up and rapid development is tied to its intentional and unauthorized use of Matterport’s multi-patented technology, and thus constitutes patent infringement.”
The six patents in question are:
- “Identifying and Filling Holes Across Multiple Aligned Three-Dimensional Scenes”
- “Building a three-dimensional composite scene”
- “Identifying and filling holes across multiple aligned three-dimensional scenes”
- “Capturing and aligning multiple 3-dimensional scenes”
- “Semantic understanding of 3D data”
- “Determining and/or generating a navigation path through a captured three-dimensional model rendered on a device.”
“As the market leader in 3D technology, Matterport takes the protection of its intellectual property rights seriously,” said Bill Brown, the CEO of Matterport, in a statement. “We have invested considerable time, money and resources to develop groundbreaking technology and have successfully been awarded numerous patents that clearly demonstrate the uniqueness of our invention.”
Matterport – which boasts Redfin, realtor.com and Apartments.com as clients, among others – says it sent a letter on September 25 notifying GeoCV of the infringement. The company is seeking an injunction that prohibits further acts of infringement as well as an order requiring GeoCV to pay damages. The specific amount is not disclosed in the lawsuit and Matterport declined to comment on the amount.
“We have an obligation to our investors, customers and employees to vigorously protect and defend our business against those who seek to either profit from our innovations or harm our company,” said Brown. “Our action against GeoCV is a testament to how we will safeguard our entire enterprise for all of our constituents.”
GeoCV – which recently partnered with the New York City-based brokerage Halstead for a 3D home tour – was founded in 2014 in New York City. It was recently selected by real estate tech venture capital fund Moderne Ventures as a member of its 2018 Midyear Passport Program.
“GeoCV was disappointed to see that Matterport filed a complaint when the parties had just begun amicable discussions,” said Anton Yakubenko, CEO and co-founder of GeoCV, in a statement.
“However, GeoCV is confident in its position as we have spent years and millions of dollars of research and development for developing our proprietary solution,” added Yakubenko. “GeoCV has its own intellectual property, and GeoCV respects others’ intellectual property. GeoCV will vigorously defend itself against any of Matterport’s claims.”
Update: Story updated to include additional comments from Anton Yakubenko, CEO and co-founder of GeoCV.