Perfect Company Defeats Adaptics Limited's Petition for IPR Review, Further Validating Perfect's Ironclad Connected Kitchen Patents

VANCOUVER, Wash., March 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Perfect Company, the leading developer of connected kitchen products, emerges victorious yet again after another challenge of their patents by Adaptics Limited, makers of the Drop Scale, the Drop Recipes app and Kitchen OS platform. Adaptics Ltd. is funded by Alsop Louie Partners. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a decision regarding Adaptics Ltd.'s August 28, 2018 petition for inter partes review (IPR) of Perfect Company's U.S. Patent 9,772,217 (the '217 Patent). The decision, issued on March 6, 2019, denies inter partes review for failure to identify its grounds for alleged unpatentability with particularity. This ruling follows Perfect's previous prevail against Adaptics Ltd.'s reexamination challenge of another of its key patents, U.S. Patent 8,829,365 (the '365 Patent), which upheld the validity of the Patent with no changes.

"This was essentially Adaptics Limited's last chance to invalidate our patents, and we are happy that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decision maintains our patent validity and IP for a second time," said Michael Wallace, CEO, Perfect Company. "It's encouraging to see the USPTO continue to side with us as the patent originator, upholding the value and meaningfulness of our patents and giving us indisputable protection in this emerging, competitive smart kitchen space."

The '365 and '217 Patents protect Perfect Company's system that connects a smart scale to a smart device equipped with a recipe app – wirelessly or wired – allowing for communication between the scale and the device to ensure the perfect combination of ingredients every time.

On December 12, 2014, Perfect Company filed its first suit against Adaptics Ltd. for infringement of its '365 Patent. On November 8, 2017, Perfect Company filed a second suit against Adaptics Ltd. for infringement of its '217 Patent. Perfect's suit against Adaptics Ltd. moves to trial at the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Tacoma, Washington on June 3-6, 2019.

Recently, in February 2019, the Federal Court in Washington hearing the case also issued a claim construction ruling on the '217 Patent terms, agreeing with most of Perfect's proposed constructions. Previously, in November 2017, the Court had issued a claim construction on the '365 Patent terms, agreeing with nearly all of Perfect's proposed constructions. Challenged a second time, Perfect's construct for "real-time" remains unaltered: "relating to a system in which input data is processed within milliseconds so that it is available virtually immediately as feedback."

Current products in the marketplace covered by Perfect Company's patents include the Perfect Drink^® app-controlled smart bartending system; Perfect Bake™ app-controlled smart baking system; Perfect Blend™, Vitamix Perfect Blend™ and NutriBullet Balance^® app-controlled smart blending systems; as well as the Perfect Kitchen™ PRO app-controlled smart kitchen system.

The '365 Patent and '217 Patent are part of Perfect Company's extensive worldwide patent portfolio protecting its key technology.

Timeline of Key Events Leading up to Trial:

• September 9, 2014 – USPTO issues U.S. Patent No. 8,829,365 ('365 Patent) to Perfect Company for its system that connects a smart scale to a smart device equipped with a recipe app – wirelessly or wired – allowing for communication between the scale and the device to ensure the perfect combination of ingredients every time.
• December 12, 2014 – Perfect Company files its first suit against Adaptics Ltd. for infringement of its '365 Patent.
• December 2, 2016 – USPTO agrees to reexamine Perfect Company's '365 Patent based on arguments filed by Adaptics Ltd.
• July 10, 2017 – USPTO upholds the validity of Perfect Company's '365 Patent with no changes and allows new claims after patent reexamination.
• September 26, 2017 – USPTO issues U.S. Patent No. 9,772,217 ('217 Patent), granting Perfect Company's scale and recipe app platform further intellectual property rights.
• November 2, 2017 – Court issues a claim construction on the '365 Patent terms, agreeing with nearly all of Perfect's proposed constructions.
• November 8, 2017 – Perfect Company files a second suit against Adaptics Ltd. for infringement of its '217 Patent.
• August 28, 2018 – Adaptics Ltd. files a petition for inter partes review of Perfect's '217 Patent.
• February 20, 2019 – Court issues a claim construction ruling on the '217 Patent terms, agreeing with most of Perfect's proposed constructions.
• March 6, 2019 – USPTO denies inter partes review for failure to identify its grounds for alleged unpatentability with particularity.
• June 3 – 6, 2019 – Perfect Company's suit against Adaptics Ltd. goes to trial in Federal court in Tacoma, WA.

About Perfect Company
Perfect Company designs, develops and manufactures connected products to help consumers succeed in the kitchen. Perfect Drink, Perfect Bake, Perfect Blend and Perfect Kitchen Smart Scales + Recipe Apps guide anyone, regardless of experience, through each recipe to make cocktails, treats, smoothies, soups, dips and more consistently perfect each time. It also licenses its core patented technology to other brands, powering kitchen appliances with Perfect technology. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  For more information, visit www.makeitperfectly.com.

Media Contact:
Linda Krebs   
LKPR, Inc.                
[email protected]
646-484-4539/646-824-5186 (cell)

SOURCE Perfect Company

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