It’s fairly common in the tech industry for companies to file patent suits against one another as they develop overlapping technologies, or one just wants to make money from another’s success. This month has seen Microsoft been issued with a patent infringement for HoloLens by Connecticut-based company HoloTouch.
HoloLens allegedly infringes on two of HoloTouch’s patents, one from 2002 and another from 2004 reports Neowin. HoloTouch creates technology that enables ‘holographic human-machine interface’, basically this means operating something like a light switch without having to touch anything. So this falls into the area of HoloLens’ gesture control system which detects a users hand to operate the device.
HoloTouch, Inc.’s President, R. Douglas McPheters, said in a statement: “Today we filed our first patent infringement complaint in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. That complaint alleges Microsoft’s HoloLens infringes issued patents for our touchless, holographic human-machine interface technology. That complaint also alleges Microsoft’s “star of the show” product infringes our patents, apparently willfully because Microsoft has known about our patented technology for many years. Many other companies and devices in a wide variety of industries appear to also be infringing our patents.”
“Our company will vigorously pursue its statutory remedies against all who take advantage of our innovative technology without the compensation provided by law, particularly in light of current fascination with touchless, holographic controls and operation of devices using them across commercial spectra,” he continues.
It looks as though HoloTouch doesn’t just have its eyes set on Microsoft, with the company preparing additional complaints against patent infringements due to its tech being patented in the US, Japan, Australia, Canada, and the U.K., with additional patents covering 28 member states in the European Union pending.
VRFocus will continue to follow the progress of the suit and its possible outcome, reporting back with any updates.